NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) investors have waited a long time for its Tegra 2 mobile graphics chip to land a plum spot in a new smartphone. LG delivered that victory last week -- but the most important aspect of LG's announcement was what it didn't say.

First, let's look at the phrasing from the Wall Street Journal interview that leaked the news:

The Optimus One [LG's flagship phone], for instance, won't boast the impressive hardware specifications of some of its rivals, but LG plans to catch up with follow-up models. The company plans to launch devices using Nvidia Corp.'s (NVDA) dual-core processor in the fourth quarter.

LG's Optimus One phone is widely reported to include Texas Instruments' (NYSE: TXN) OMAP processor. Beyond that, the interview noted that LG would launch 10 smartphones before the end of the year. But whether NVIDIA gained one or nine wins on the remaining roster of smartphones remains to be seen.

Until we have more information from the companies, these three burning questions should decide how meaningful the LG win could be.

1. Android or Windows Phone 7?
Tegra's a multimedia powerhouse, so it makes sense that NVIDIA could enjoy success on Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows Phone 7, which has heavily promoted gaming tie-ins with the company's Xbox Live platform. While such victories would be nice, NVIDIA really needs to prove its mettle on a smartphone running Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android mobile OS.

Three years late out of the gate, with a small app base and a significant likelihood of delays until after the holidays, Windows Phone 7 will almost certainly struggle. Scoring a spot in a gaming-centered Windows Phone 7 smartphone doesn't exactly prove that NVIDIA can thrive on Android, today's fastest-growing mobile OS. Yes, NVIDIA's chip could succeed in phones focused around gaming, but it needs more mass-market acceptance to prove its viability.

2. Will NVIDIA power an LG tablet?
The other major buzz from the interview was the shot LG's Chang Ma fired at Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad. He announced that LG would be developing a tablet that will allow users to "create content, rather than consume it." While you'd naturally assume that such a tablet would involve NVIDIA chips, that news hasn't been confirmed yet. Tablets are actually a much better fit for Tegra's focus on multimedia and 3-D graphics. Securing a spot in Android tablets -- fast becoming Tegra's ideal path to commercial viability -- would probably be huge news for NVIDIA.

3. Can one win change the momentum?
The mobile processor space remains crowded. Qualcomm's (Nasdaq: QCOM) Snapdragon processor has been an early leader. However, Texas Instruments and even Marvell (Nasdaq: MRVL) have consistently topped NVIDIA in the smartphone processor market. With each of these companies standing behind major wins, large manufacturers don't question their processors' continuing success and support.

However, NVIDIA's Tegra 2 hasn't enjoyed any significant success yet, so it'll be interesting to see whether a win from a major player such as LG opens the floodgates a bit. We've already heard reports from our partner site Conceivably Tech that Motorola (NYSE: MOT) plans to offer a smartphone featuring Tegra 2 this holiday season. If such a phone is in the cards, a product announcement shouldn't be far off.

I'm sure we'll get more information on the LG win in coming weeks. Watch for whether NVIDIA's Tegra will find its way into tablets or Android phones as well, and keep an eye on the slow trickle of holiday products that will begin in the coming weeks. This holiday season, Tegra's wish list probably involves a whole slew of Android tablets on Santa's sleigh.