e.Digital looks to hang on to digEplayer business

July 14, 2005 – CALIFORNIAN-based e.Digital Corporation, which handles manufacture of the digEplayer handheld system for APS/Wencor, has signalled its determination to stay in the IFE business following the reorganisation that will follow Wencor’s acquisition of another handheld provider, IMS (Inflight Online, July 8).

“We look forward to continuing digEplayer orders and supporting APS/Wencor’s growing leadership in the IFE industry,” e.Digital CEO Atul Anandpura said yesterday. He also announced that the company had shipped over $750,000-worth of Ethernet-enabled digEplayers to APS/Wencor since the beginning of the month, with more to come in the rest of the quarter.

Speaking for APS/Wencor, CEO Brent Wood said: “Product definition is still under review, but at least for the balance of 2005 I believe that the current version of the digEplayer will be marketed and offered for sale by the combined sales force of APS and IMS.”

Wencor’s announcement of its intention to acquire IMS, developer of the PEA handheld system, has given rise to speculation about the long-term role of e.Digital, which was responsible for the industrial design of digEplayer and which now manages the manufacture of the system by a third party, believed to be Michigan-based Maycom (formerly Digitalway).

Informed sources suggest that Wencor plans to rationalise the digEplayer/PEA product lines into an integrated range of new products differentiated by screen size – 7in, 8.9in and 10.4in – and functionality. If that proves to be the case, the days of digEplayer and PEA as discrete, branded products are probably numbered.

Wencor has also indicated that it will continue to develop the semi-embedded version of digEplayer that is currently designated digEsystem. Questioned on whether e.Digital would have a role to play in digEsystem development and production, Wencor declined to comment.