You won’t see Broadcom Corp. on those cool iPod commercials, but the Irvine company’s chips are in some of the sleek little gadgets.
And Broadcom is getting more of its chips into Apple Computer Inc. products, even as concerns persist about its future with the computer maker.
Broadcom got some attention early last year when its chips were included in the video iPod.
The contract was an example of Chief Executive Scott McGregor’s efforts to make Broadcom more nimble. The chip went into development early in 2005. By the end of last year’s fourth quarter, it was helping to power the video iPod. The development process usually takes upward of two years.
In the new version of the video iPod, Broadcom once again got its video processor chip in the gadget, according to Craig Berger, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities Inc. in Los Angeles.
San Jose-based PortalPlayer Inc. again is supplying the digital music processor.
“We do see both the PortalPlayer processor and the Broadcom video processor chip inside this device, consistent with our prior expectations that this device would remain a discreet two-chip solution for the time being,” Berger wrote in a note on PortalPlayer.
Apple’s lack of change in the new iPod suggests this is a “short-term, stop-gap device intended to buy Apple more time until it is ready to launch its true iPod Video later this year or early next year.”
That’s the big question: Will Broadcom’s video processor be in the follow-up version?
In an interview, Berger said the thinking out there is that Santa Clara-based NVidia Corp. or South Korea’s Samsung Corp. are going to get the contract, leaving Broadcom out in the cold.
But that’s hardly a given with Apple’s penchant for extreme secrecy, he said.
The speculation is “not based on facts,” he said.
Meanwhile, some online sources are saying that Broadcom could be in a new iPod.
Speculation is that Apple’s new iMacs could sport Broadcom chips for wireless networking with what’s called 802.11n, a much faster upgrade to 802.11g that can more easily handle big media files.
It’s unconfirmed, and the new iMacs haven’t been released yet. So no one can rip one open and find out what chips are in there.
Broadcom was among the first to put out chips earlier this year for 802.11n, which still doesn’t have an official global standard yet. Broadcom says it can update the chips with software when stuff gets finalized.
Here’s the kicker: Apple should unveil early next year what it calls iTV, a sort of set-top box router powered by 802.11n.
With a win with the iMac, one could speculate that Broadcom could get in iTV as well.
Although details are sketchy out there, we know the iTV product is designed to stream music, movies, podcasts and pictures from computers directly to your TV, according to Macworld.
This all comes in connection with Apple’s unveiling of its online store for downloading movies. The company is trying to do with movies what iTunes did for music.
WD Buyout?
Well, it’s been what, five, six months since a good Western Digital Corp. buyout rumor?
Must be time to stoke speculation again.
Late last month, Western Digital’s stock shot up 7% in one day,not a typical move for a long-standing, conservative stock such as Western Digital’s.
The reason, according to TheStreet.com, was growing speculation that Western Digital might get bought up by rival Seagate Technology of Northern California.
The story, citing an unidentified analyst, said Seagate was considering an acquisition of Western Digital after Seagate wrapped up its $1.9 billion purchase of Maxtor Corp. of Milpitas earlier this year.
The Maxtor deal made the No.1 disk drive maker even larger, and Western Digital could add to that.
But the source said “he would be surprised if Seagate was ready to make another purchase while it is still digesting Maxtor,” TheStreet.com said.
The stock stayed steady at around $18 in the days following the rumors before falling on concerns about demand for drives.
Power Downshift
Powerwave Technologies Inc. is getting out of contract manufacturing, a sector known for low profits and commodity products.
The Santa Ana-based company, which makes cell tower gear, sold its Sweden-based Arkivator Falkoping AB unit to Sweden-based IGC Industrial Growth Co. for $27.1 million.
The stock climbed about 1% the day of the announcement on Sept. 29. The deal closed that day as well.
Powerwave is wrapping up an acquisition at the same time.
The company plans to spend $185 million in cash and issue 17.7 million shares to acquire Britain’s Filtronic PLC.
The acquisition is set to expand Powerwave’s signal filtering, remote radio heads and power amplifier product lineups for wireless networks.
Powerwave expects to save $10 million a year in manufacturing, research and development and other costs after the Filtronic unit is integrated.
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