Ceva will apparently be the only Israeli company with a part in the production of Apple's iPhone. But even the company itself doesn't know for sure.

Two days ahead of the hyped technology's Friday launch, lines started building up outside stores in the United States. The product, that combines a camera, a multimedia player, a Web browser and a phone, all in one, has been dubbed the "God machine" and the "Jesus phone."

Ceva is an Israeli company that specializes in developing technology for DSP processors, for the semiconductors industry.

	Advertisement

If analysts are right in their projections and Germany's Infineon becomes the main source of chips for iPhone, then it's highly likely Israel will be represented in the device's technology. Infineon, Europe's second-biggest chipmaker, uses a lot of Ceva's telephony products, and tension is high at the company - as is optimism.

However, even Ceva will have to wait for the launch on Friday to find out. It will have to prise open the phone to see whether its DSP technology is inside.

"We still don't know, it's all speculation," said a source at Ceva on Wednesday. "We still have no formal information that Infineon is inside."

You may be wondering what an iPhone is. Wonder no more: first Internet-enabled smartphone. It combines the features of a mobile phone, wireless Internet device, and iPod into one package.

Ceva was formed as a spin-off from DSP Group (Nasdaq: DSPG) four years ago. It develops advanced technologies to plan multimedia and wireless communications chips. For the year 2006 it reported revenues of $32.5 million. That year its technology appeared in about 190 million cellular and electronic entertainment devices, an increase of 50% from the year 2005.