Apple Seed.

PORTALPLAYER Inc.; MP3 players; APPLE computers; JOHNSON, Gary; JOBS, Steven, 1955-2011; DIGITAL audio; COMPUTER sound processing; COMPUTER operating systems; DEPRECIATION; SMALL business; CAMPBELL, Gordon, 1948-

Shhhh! The company that powers the iPod isn't the one you think. Steve Jobs is having a very good 2004. Six days into the new year Apple Computer rolls out a pint-size version of its bestselling iPod. Two days later Hewlett-Packard announces plans for an HP-branded iPod. Gary Johnson is having a very good 2004, too. His Santa Clara, Calif.-based shop, PortalPlayer Inc., supplies the chips and internal software that power Apple's iconic music player. Though PortalPlayer's connection to the iPod has been an open secret since 2002, Johnson doesn't dare acknowledge the relationship, for fear of offending his best--and a notoriously secretive--client. Which is a shame, since Apple plays a starring role in PortalPlayer's success story. (Apple, for its part, will only confirm that PortalPlayer supplied "one of many components" for the iPod.) PortalPlayer dates back to late 1998, when venture capitalist Gordon Campbell approached National Semiconductor executives about creating a chip system for an MP3 player.