Apple is understood to be planning to put cameras on its popular iPod device family in a move that will square the company against point-and-shoot player Flip.
According to various reports Omnivision will be come the sole supplier of 3.2 megapixel CMOS image sensors for the upcoming line of iPods to be unveiled next month by Apple.
Omnivision is the main supplier of cameras for the iPhone and is expected to ship 18m camera devices to Apple per quarter.
Apple is expected to unveil new iPods with cameras on 9 September as well as iTunes 9.
It is expected the new cameras will feature on iPod Touch and Nano devices.
Apple recently introduced video recording capabilities to the iPhone 3G S and a move into cameras on most media player devices will help the company compete against popular point-and-shoot devices like the Flip which enables consumers to take pictures and videos and share them instantly on the web.
Flip’s maker Pure Digital was acquired by Cisco for US$590m earlier this year.
By John Kennedy
