e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

[lickily]

IMO this whole bit about the Asian OEM securing the deal is silly. Look at the order of events. EDIG has talked for a long time about having a big name interested in licensing this player and they are right next door to Gateway (I'm sure they have been in touch since the Treo days when EDIG talked about being in talks with bundling to several PC manufacturers; IMO they got cold feet in the middle of the economic slump and it wasn't until the ipod demonstrated the enormous potential of this market that they came to take another look). I'm almost sure EDIG did the majority of the legwork setting this deal up, and Gateway only insisted on this Asian OEM because they had an existing relationship with them, could count on them to manufacture the quantities that they needed, and probably got a good deal because they are sending a ton of other manufacturing business their way for other CE products. I doubt the Asian OEM set this deal up.