NVidia’s Tegra ‘system on a chip’ solution has been around for a while, but why haven’t we seen it in more devices? So far, the only ‘major’ distribution of the chip has been the Microsoft Zune and Windows Mobile smartphone.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) used its own chip to run the iPad. Dell Inc. (DELL) opted for a Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) chip for its Streak tablet, and Acer Inc. (2353.TW) plans to use Qualcomm chips for its upcoming hybrid PC-tablet and a smartphone. Asustek Computer Inc. (2357.TW) will use a chip from Intel Corp. (INTC) for its upcoming tablet. Meanwhile, Nintendo Co.’s (NTDOY) latest mobile-gaming device, the Nintendo 3DS, also opted for a Tegra rival, despite early speculation that Nvidia had nabbed the latest generation of the most popular mobile videogame system.
NVidia predicted that they would rake in $150Million per quarter, but they’re going to need to break into a major market to make this happen. They claim they’re still on track, having over 50 ‘design wins’ (agreements with manufacturers to use the device in in-development/future products), but nothing available yet.
