According to the NY Times, Apple is indeed developing its own processors for use in the next iteration of the iPhone. Wei-hen, P.A. Semi’s former engineer describes his current position at Apple on his LinkedIn profile as (you need to be logged into LinkedIn to view it) “Senior Manager Chip CPU Architect at Apple”. His public profile goes on to say that he is managing the “ARM CPU architecture team for iPhone.”

P.A. Semi, (originally “Palo Alto Semiconductor”) was bought by Apple in April of this year for close to $300 million.

“PA Semi had assembled an all-star cast of chip engineers, including Lien, and Apple confirmed that it bought the company for that talent. In a June interview with The Times’ John Markoff, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs went one step further, saying the PA Semi team would work on designing brand-new processors for future iPhones and iPods,” Ashlee Vance reports for the NY Times.

Apple’s current iPhone uses ARM processors which are very common in the mobile market. Although Apple refuses to confirm it, Samsung processors currently power the iPhone. Buying P.A. Semi gave Apple the ability to develop a processor that meets the exact specifications and requirements needed for the next generation of iPods and iPhone(s). They could “build support for functions such as the touch screen or scroll wheel into silicon and possibly savings on costs by reducing the number of processors needed in each device,” Vance explains.

“They could put software accelerators on there or maybe do something like a graphics engine,” said Fred Weber, the former chief technology officer of Advanced Micro Devices and current chief executive of memory specialist Metaram.

Apple runs P.A. Semi as a subsidiary and declined to comment on related matters.

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The transaction, which values Napster at $2.65 per share, has been approved by Napster’s board and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.  Included in the deal will be Napster’s approximately 700,000 subscribers, it’s web-based customer service platform, and mobile capabilities.

“This transaction offers Best Buy a recognized platform for enhancing our capabilities in the digital media space and building new, recurring relationships with customers,” said Brian Dunn, President and COO of Best Buy. “Over time we hope to strengthen our offerings to consumers, who we believe will increasingly seek devices and solutions that enable them to access their content wherever, whenever and however they want.”

The acquisition will retain the services of Napster CEO, Chris Gorog, and members of the senior management team to manage the company following the deal. Additionally, no other layoffs of the company’s 140 employees have been mentioned.

Executive Vice President of Connected Digital Solutions of Best Buy, Dave Morrish adds, “We can foresee Napster acting as a platform for accelerating our growth in the emerging industry of digital entertainment, beyond music subscriptions. We’re very excited to add these capabilities to leverage our existing relationships with the labels, the studios, and the hardware providers.”

[via 9to5]

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The acquisition is estimated to be in the $200 million range, well below the $4-$5 billion valuation that Digg has received in the past.

Despite rigorous past attempts, Digg CEO Jay Adelson had remained firm in his denial of the buyout.  Google’s Marissa Mayer had eventually subsided talks with Digg for a period of time, yet now the companies are reported to be in the final stages of negotiations.  According to TechCrunch’s sources the deal could still take up to a few weeks to be finalized.

Additionally, based on past rendezvous with the two internet companies, the deal could entirely still have the potential to fall apart.

The majority of Digg’s revenue comes through a three year ad deal with Microsoft, which would be terminated if the Google buyout is successful (Potential lawsuit?). Microsoft had also shown some previous interest in an acquisition of Digg, and may be willing to step back in, if negotiations with Google go south.

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