PLAY and SYNA, AAPL's iPod Economy Companions

The Apple's iPod has created a mini-economy in itself.  Examples:  Synaptics (SYNA) provides the click wheel on the iPods and  PortalPlayer (PLAY) is a fabless semiconductor company that provides the blueprints for the device's inner guts (chips).

However, keep in mind that more than 90% of PortalPlayer's revenues
come from the iPod. True, this is not a problem if the iPod continues
to sizzle (which it probably will). The question is: What if Apple
decides to go with another solution or try to squeeze PortalPlayer?