“In 2001 the small firm beat out nine competitors, including Texas Instruments, to provide iPod’s central nervous system. Apple’s in-house designers provide the look and feel that make the iPod so distinctive; PortalPlayer provides the innards that lie beneath. It won over Apple with a design that uses two modest processors and an operating system two years in the making.

PortalPlayer’s “firmware” makes it easy for makers to mix and match features and rapidly stamp out upgrades without having to start from scratch. Apple picked PortalPlayer in the summer of 2001, and the iPod was in stores in November of that year.”