Credit Suisse discusses Portalplayer (PLAY) today in their morning note.
Michael Masdea now sees Portalplayer as a potential supplier for the Microsoft Zune player, and specifically highlights the existing relationship Portalplayer has with Microsoft.
Current MSFT relationship is key. For many months now, PLAY has been working with Microsoft to develop the Preface technology for laptops. Microsoft is putting significant marketing dollars behind Preface through the “Windows SideShow” name and the Vista launch. As the hardware PLAY ships for the Preface platform is very similar to what PLAY ships into MP3 players, we believe Microsoft will be more inclined to use PLAY chips for its own MP3 player.
This is a concept that we have seen, followed, and talked about for the last six months. It is refreshing to see that this concept is finally more broadly recognized.