Nvidia-based Microsoft smartphone coming?

From CNET News.com: Nvidia's Tegra chip will be used in an upcoming Microsoft smartphone, according to an analyst at Broadpoint AmTech.

The San Francisco-based research firm also is speculating that Apple will eventually use the Nvidia ARM-based chip in a future iPhone.

Broadpoint's Doug Freedman said the Microsoft-branded phone would be the second Nvidia Tegra design win after HTC. "We believe the HTC ramp in '09 is the more material of the two as we have some concerns on the channel for Microsoft's handset distribution given the lack of prior carrier relationships/handset qualification history," he wrote Thursday.
Microsoft has been working with Nvidia on its Tegra chip platform.

But that doesn't mean Microsoft hasn't done this before. "They've entered new markets (and) they clearly have a hardware business," he said in a phone interview. "It will be interesting to see how material this thing will be from a units (shipment) standpoint."

Though Freedman said that his research note is not based on mere speculation, "it could turn out to be...a reference design Microsoft has used. That could be possible," he said. "But we've also picked up that Microsoft is working on a phone themselves," he added.

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