PortalPlayer iPod setback

Apple is not expected to use chips from longtime supplier Portal Player for the upper end of its future iPod product line. PortalPlayer, whose chip sales are virtually driven by Apple, said that it has been dealt a major setback, as Apple has begun notifying its suppliers of orders for future iPod products. Apple is apparently switching media processor chip vendors in its iPod lines, according to the EE Times. "PortalPlayer generates over 90 percent of its sales from Apple’s iPod; it makes the media processor for the MP3. But PortalPlayer said that it has recently been advised that the follow-on to its PP5021 media processor chip has not been selected by Apple for use in its new mid-range and high-end flash-based iPods.... The chip company believes that the PP5021 will continue to be used in other members of the iPod family." The next-generation chip, the PP5024, was due in the second half of 2006 and was rumored to be the company's entry into the MP3-based flash arena.

by MacNN Staff