Wedbush Morgan analyst Craig Berger believes that PortalPlayer will be the multimedia chip supplier in the next-generation video iPod, despite the company recently losing the iPod nano business. “It is possible that PortalPlayer will retain its socket in the soon-to-be-released Video iPod given Apple’s design schedule constraints, likely Video iPod device processing requirements, and the execution risk Apple faces should it change processor suppliers,” Berger said.
“We believe nVidia’s and Broadcom’s video processing solutions are probably not well suited to drive both the video processing, audio processing, and applications processing within the Video iPod. Also, a new operating system would have to be written and debugged very quickly.
Finally, we think that any savings in battery life is minimal versus the current solution. We still believe Apple is focused on delivering best-of-breed products with cutting edge features, and is not overly focused on cost reduction for its high end products.”
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