There has been a lot of change surrounding the chips found in Apple's iPods recently. Apple's current video iPod line uses an MP3 processor from PortalPlayer Inc. and a multimedia chip from Broadcom. It looks like NVIDIA might have unseated Broadcom for the next generation of video iPod.

"Based on our analysis, we believe NVIDIA is designed into the next-generation vPod socket at the expense of Broadcom," said Satya Chillara, an analyst with American Technology Research Inc. (Greenwich, Conn.), in a new 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," he said.

If this is true and Apple did decide to go with NVIDIA chips, it opens up a whole bag of questions. If the main difference between the two chips is the 3D capabilities of the Nvidia one, one has to wonder why Apple wants 3D capabilities for the iPod. It could be for a stylish menu, but that menu could have been executed just as well in just two dimensions. Is Apple planning more than just movies and videos for the next generation of video capable iPod, are they adding support for things such as 3D games? This would tie in with some rumors from a while back about Apple getting into games.