Well, here you go. It’s not speculation; Apple has indeed made a deal with a multimedia processor company. Now, that doesn’t tell us anything specific about the device or when it will ACTUALLY come out, but there you have it. The device could play videos, display photos (yes the iPod Photo can already do this), maybe even connect wirelessly – and it could be out by the end of 2005 to the beginning of 2006.
A British team of chip designers has won one of the most coveted of customers in the chip industry—Apple Computer. SiliconValleyWatcher has learned that Apple has contracted to use the powerful video, image, and music chips designed by Alphamosaic, in Cambridge, UK, in a future multimedia mobile device.
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Building on the success of the VC01, Alphamosaic is now sampling VC02, the world’s most advanced mobile multimedia processor. The VC02 can display video on 3.5 inch color LCDs and capture 8 megapixel images, making it ideal for watching TV, making videos or taking studio-quality photos on a cellphone.
The Apple device could be ready in volume quantities by the end of 2005 or early January 2006 if Apple gets the ball rolling now. CEO Steve Jobs often debuts important new products at the MacWorld show in San Francisco in early January.
Broadcom says the chip uses very small amounts of battery power and “excels in high-quality 3D graphics performance with the capability to support pixel shading and volumetric lighting with low power consumption, making it ideal for use in mobile gaming applications and comparable in performance to home consoles.”