Well, it was fun for HP while it lasted! I wonder if that was just one of the thoughts going through the minds of those affected by the screeching halt of iPod creation at HP.

So much for the high-profile deal announced at CES last year… H-P to stop reselling Apple’s popular iPod portable music player, as it doesn’t fit with its company’s current digital media strategy.
CNET: We do remain committed to our digital-entertainment strategy,” said HP spokesman. “We decided that reselling the iPod does not fit within that strategy.”
As WSJ story says, the deal between the two companies was originally viewed as a major step for both companies, but the breakdown of the partnership isn’t likely to be a big loss for either side. HP on average accounted for only about 5% of iPod sales, which totaled about 6.2 million of the devices, worth more than $1.1 billion in revenue, for Apple last quarter. H-P plans to continue distributing copies of Apple’s iTunes music software on H-P computers.
On interesting part though: as part of the original contract, H-P cannot sell a competitive digital music player from another company or begin development of its own player until August of next year. [Get the links]