Synaptics gets the nod to help boost iPod supply
By Ryan Katz, Senior Editor
December 5, 2005 - With demand outstripping supply, Apple has solicited Synaptics, Inc. to provide its manufacturing sites with click wheels for the iPod nano. Sources have confirmed to Think Secret that Synaptics, the company that developed both the scroll and click wheel for about the first three years of iPod sales, started producing click wheels again just last week.
Earlier this year, Apple abandoned Synaptics and its proprietary click-wheel technology and circuitry for the nano in favor of its own proprietary application based on a part manufactured by Cypress Semiconductor Corp. But Cypress has been unable to keep up with increased holiday demand for that part, sources inside Apple have said.
"We're shipping every [iPod] we make, but it's still not meeting demand," Katie Cotton, an Apple spokeswoman, told The Wall Street Journal last week.
Apple took its business to Cypress to save money -- the company is able to produce the click wheel for about 45 cents, compared to the $1 price Synaptics was charging, said David Carey, president of Portelligent, a research firm that analyzed the nano and its components back in September when it debuted.
The nano uses Cypress' iProgrammable System-on-Chip (PSoC)-based CapSense solution for the click wheel circuitry, which translates user finger movements into digital signals. A PSoC is a programmable chip that integrates a microcontroller with several analog and digital components that can be configured for specific applications. Specifically, the iPod nano uses Cypress part number CY8C21434.
It is not known how long Santa Clara, Calif.-based Synaptics will be making chips for the nano, how many it is contracted to supply, or at what price Apple is buying them for. It's also not known if Apple is buying chips from Synaptics at a cheaper price and using their own proprietary application, or if the chip is using Synaptics own software solution. Sources tell Think Secret
Synaptics' user interface technology is used by seven other portable music player makers including Creative Technology and Samsung, and the company has a 55 percent market share in the notebook computer market for its touchpad technology.
The Synaptics news will be music to the ears of its investors, who saw the company's stock drop after news that it had lost Apple's iPod business. While the nano is one of the hottest gifts this holiday season, sources inside Apple are saying that the company's original estimates of sales between eight to 10 million in the Christmas quarter may have been a little too optimistic. As a result, Apple is now targeting nano sales for the fiscal first quarter at around 7.5 million, sources report.
thinksecret.com |
