SigmaTel--a maker of chips for MP3 players which currently serves up components for the iPod shuffle--is hoping to win bigger contracts from Apple in the second half of 2007, despite at least one analyst's doubts about whether the company can even hold existing business. SigmaTel chief executive Ron Edgerton said a window of opportunity should open in the second half when players with longer battery lives, as well as video by Sony and Creative Technologies hit the market to surpass Apple's iPod nano, according to a report from Reuters UK. "We're hoping [...] in the second half of this year, there will be a lot of players that are much better than Nano on the market," Edgerton said. The executive added "if that takes market share from Apple, then I think they will be more likely to come to us." One research firm in January said there was an increasing chance SigmaTel would lose its deal to supply chips for the iPod shuffle to rival chip maker PortalPlayer--which may establish a common hardware platform and drive additional features, such as wireless capability.