“Industry analysts at American Technology Research have raised their Apple stock purchasing recommendations from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’ on their belief that NVIDIA has secured its place in the much anticipated device. They believe that NVIDIA’s entrance into the iPod can be viewed as a strong sign that Apple intends to support 3D on the video iPod, and they believe that this will translate into significant sales… ‘Based on our analysis, we believe Nvidia is designed into the next-generation vPod socket at the expense of Broadcom,’ said Satya Chillara, author of the report. ‘We believe the Nvidia chip adds 3D graphics functionality in addition to all of the existing features (such as H.264) that Broadcom supported with the existing vPod,'” Ken Fisher reports for Ars Technica.
“If true, NVIDIA’s claim to the video iPod goldmine would be a major loss for Broadcom, which to date has supplied most of the iPod’s brains. Nevertheless, it must be noted that Chillara is not certain that 3D functionality is at the heart of the NVIDIA’s offering; it does stand to reason that NVIDIA’s main edge over Broadcom would rest in the company’s 3D prowess, which already extends to mobile phones, however,” Fisher reports.
“On the programming front, Apple appears to be investing in gaming development. The company has reportedly been in the market for game developers, and rumors back in May even indicated that the position was somehow related to the iTunes Music Store. Could Apple be selling Zuma and Wik: Fable of Souls for the iPod in a few short months? It’s all starting to add up to a real posibility,” Fisher reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Gee, an iPod capable of real gaming (plus music, video, and the usual extras) wouldn’t be that successful, would it? 
Related article:
Report: Nvidia beats out Broadcom, wins inclusion in Apple’s ‘true’ video iPod due ‘first half 2007’ – July 18, 2006
the hell will break loose
Apple’s strength – as well as the iPod’s – has been do one thing, and do it well. In Mac OS X, Applications are separated by functionality. iCal does calendaring, and nothing more. Mail is a mail client and nothing more. The iPod was an mp3 player, and nothing more. iTunes was only music related, and nothing more.
I think Apple needs to be really careful, or feature creep will destroy the usability that propelled the iPod to market dominance.
Screen size verses portability versus battery life verses usability Verses… gosh, it’s not going to be easy to do the 6G that’s for sure.
So many difficulties, I hope they can pull it off!
MDN word: Faith – sums up what I’m trying to say
But not phone calls. Nobody wants their cell merged with an iPod.
Nobody.
No, it wouldn’t. Small market.
An Apple iPhone with gaming, music and videos would be sweet!
Games… Or a 3D virtual reality type scenario in which the iPod menus are fed into our brain overlayed onto our real world view.
Question(s):
Does the inclusion of Nvidia devices
automatically mean 3-D acceleration?
Does Nvidia even make a 2-d only chipset?
The click wheel as a gaming controller? I don’t think so…
Any gaming device would surely require a joystick or navigational system of some sort – once you start adding other buttons other than the scrollwheel (I know the 3G had them) when does it stop being an iPod and just becomes an apple device?
Akido,
Apple iPod already has games. So, if this happened, it would be “feature improvement,” not “feature creep.”
And, yes, I want my phone and my iPod combined by Apple. I’m, tired of carrying and juggling two devices.
A lot of speculation based on not a lot of information. First it’s a double-wide iPod with a larger screen for showing videos now it’s 3D games on a vPod.
Since many still feel the original iPod and its size-mates are “too big”, chances are small any new iPod will be significantly larger.
Since game-play keeps the disk drive spinning, and disk spinning uses battery power, we can’t really expect a traditional iPod to become an effective game machine. It already comes with several juice-sucking, third-rate games that are difficult to play with the available controls.
Which doesn’t mean that Apple isn’t prepping a vPod or a gPod, only that the speculation surrounding either is just that and no more. Either could show up, but it wouldn’t much resemble the guessed configurations.
Apple was seeking game developers for their expertise in OpenGL. That has nothing to do with making games. Apple also knows that focussed products do better than the “everything but the kitchen sink” approach of Windows devices. Nvidia’s chips have to handle 2-D graphics, because what are you doing when you’re not playing Doom? Looking at the Finder or Windows, right? So Nvidia was chosen for their graphics expertise, not their 3D graphics expertise. This is such a tempest in a teapot, guys. Grow up!
What is the point of adding the nVidia 3D chip to iPod? It would be over-kill for what is basically an MP3 player. I would rather have a cheaper but higher capacity iPod than something that can play games.
I’d like to see Apple slowly add on some of these things but allow for accessories/attachments that bring other functionalities for those who want it (ie. phone, Sirius, FM radio, etc.).
MW: “future” – prophetic, isn’t it?
iGameboy.
LOL – what adult would want to carry around an iGameboy?
LOL – what adult would want to carry around an iGameboy?
—————–
The same adults who currently carry around iPods loaded with Parachutes, Music Quiz and Solitaire.
It could just be a 3-D chip to dress up the menu a bit, which would be a natural progression in a competitive market. There’s nothing wrong with a little eye candy so long as it doesn’t hinder functionality.
I don’t like the idea of a handheld gaming system. There are other machines out there already that do that and do it well. If I wanted a PSP, I’d buy one of those.
BTW, a wireless feature would be cool. I can just picture me and my friends partying on the patio and, when someone gets the urge to hear that certain Nirvana song, I smile and upload it within seconds to scratch their itch. A rare moment, but one worth an extra few bucks.
It sounds to me like somebody has been reading too much into a small bit of information.
Games playing has never been a big deal on an iPod, I’m not that sure this it’s much different on cellphones either, but at least they’ve got a few more keys to control games with.
But the big drawback would appear to be battery life. I can’t see how playing demanding games could do anything but drastically shorten the time between recharges.
It’s possible that the next iPods may indeed have chips from NVIDIA, but I doubt that the main reason is for games playing. A 3D interface for navigating your tunes sounds entirely plausible, but games playing doesn’t sound quite right to me.
guys….this will not be a gaming iPod. period. nvidia is known for their chips being able to handle gaming calculations, but apple isn’t putting it in the iPod for gaming. it might be being put in there for, say, higher resolution 3D menus and/or H.264/HD movies. everybody’s getting bent out of shape about the ‘gPod’…not gonna happen.
“The same adults who currently carry around iPods loaded with Parachutes, Music Quiz and Solitaire.”
Get that crap off the iPod, CS.
The only one reading too much into is MDN. They set the entire tone of the “gPod” thread. MDN, Ignorance of technology and the market place, again….
I doubt this will happen, but you use the USB port for a controller or plug it in the dock or a future dock that will connect to the TV and a USB controller and there you have a portable game device.
Probably not though.
Perhaps the 3D chip could be for personal navigation services, like TomTom.
“wouldn’t be that successful, would it?”
Well, it depends not on the hardware, so much as the games. After all, most videogamer-buyers these days still prefer to shell out money for Halo 3 rather than Soduku.
Apple’s a hardware company. THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO MAKE GAMES. THat siad, they’d better have the best third-party game-makers on board for their hardware to succeed.