Hmmm... Scott McNealy has been so focused on Microsoft that I don't know his position on Apple. Lately Sun has waffled on Linux and on opening up Java.
Sun's in trouble these days because their business actually depends on shipping big iron, and they're getting strong competition from Dell, HP and IBM. Yet their main public focus seems to be on Java.
What does Pixo make that fits in with Sun? A high-performance embedded JVM, perhaps? Maybe there's a personal relationship involved.
Apple seems to be warming up to Java somewhat. It's important in the Unix middleware environment that they're trying to move Xserve's into. Unfortunately, Java on the Mac is painfully slow.