I realize how much fun it is to try to connect speculative dots, but this one does not necessarily connect.
Following the planned launch of the service at the Consumer Electronics Show, HP expects to unveil a digital music player, Appl said. Appl said the company had not yet decided the exact design of the product, adding that HP wants to be sure to set its digital music player apart from competitors.
First of all, they don't say if their "digital music player" (not called a jukebox) is going to use a hard-drive, flash memory, Cornice drive, MicroDrive, etc.
But more importantly, HP says that it wants to distinguish its music player from competitors. Apparently HP wants a design exclusive to them. That would seem to preclude them from releasing the same design as the Gateway player.
Remember that EDIG has a relationship with Softeq, not HP. If Softeq is engaged by HP to design a player, it's possible that Softeq would involve EDIG, but that is pure speculation. Softeq has previously designed user interfaces for digital music players without EDIG, so it's not necessarily a given that Softeq would subcontract to EDIG as it did for the headsets that were a component in an overall wireless translation system.
