Just after ARM and Microsoft announced that they have signed a new licensing agreement, shares of ARM Holdings have shown significant gains in the market. According to the press release issued, Microsoft will be applying and working with ARM technology in concert with a broad range of businesses addressing multiple application areas.
It is expected that Microsoft will be using ARM technologies in “mobile” devices though specific details of products have not been announced at the moment. The company already uses ARM Technology for its windows embedded and mobile devices however now Microsoft will have more access to their technology which can help it to compete with Apple which had been gaining market share in the mobile arena with its iPod, iPhone and now iPad.
The news announcement might affect Intel’s relationship with Microsoft since ARM is dominant in the mobile processors arena and poses a significant threat to Intel.
The deal will give Arm Holdings Plc (LON:ARM) a significant spot and help it to hold off competition from other microprocessor manufacturers in the market.
Posted in: Technology | Tags: arm, intel, microsoft
ARM Holdings (LSE:ARM) is a medium scale company which has its headquarters in Cambridge. Just in case you don’t know, its quite well known for processors, chips and other hardware based technologies. So I had applied for a few spots that were available at the company and after a few days got contacted by email to arrange a telephonic interview with the company. I had been selected for a competitive spot in the Marketing/IT Division and would have got the opportunity to show my skills at the company.
So I have prepared quite enough for the telephonic interview and the day comes when the company gives me a call and it is a long conversation after that. The telephone interview was all about search engine optimization, social media and much more. I got a brief view about the company and much more. It was only a matter of days that I got confirmation for an interview at the company’s headquarters. So I am thinking that the telephone interview went quite well.
The day comes when I have to go for the interview at the company (excited!). Took a train to Cambridge then a taxi straight to the headquarters. The ARM Headquarters is quite impressive, after waiting for some time at the reception – I get down to business during the interview.
I was quite casual and relaxed (maybe excited?) during the interview, usually am not. One of the person takes me to the room for interrogation (word!). First the interviewers introduced themselves and were very nice. Soon questions are thrown up at me which I am ready to tackle.
So the person from ARM shows me data from the web analytics – a tool that shows information regarding the performance of website – visitors and a lot more information about their habits. I felt a bit strange at this moment cause according to me this would be quite valuable data. With tons of knowledge and experience about such tools a single look is enough to tell me how the company’s website is performing. It was a bit shocking to note that this website which is handled much more by a single individual is able to garner more visitors than what their whole website which is being managed by dozens of employees has been able to achieve. Productivity issues? Anyone? and damn I do not even get paid anything for writing over here.
If someone would ask me where ARM Holdings stands at the moment in terms of their Online Marketing, I would say “As tiny as an Ant.” – In other words not noticeable. The company has tried quite hard I assume but some of the things I noticed are quite generic (no value to what they are really aiming for).
Since the last year the company has managed to gain something negligible while their competitors have gained massively and have shown tremendous performance I should say.
But when you are asked by someone how they are performing – You have to be a bit positive right? That’s what I think.
The company showed me an individual page data – disappointing but when asked to evaluate exactly I refused to do it (Don’t really intend to get someone fired for awful work). Perhaps the interviewers also failed to realise that it can take a while to evaluate performance especially in the field I would have been dealing with. Though the numbers were not impressive – I would be counting on that employee to perform well on a long term and put my own effort in order to get things done.
Even though I would get up in arguments regarding my strategies – I am ready to take into consideration other person’s opinion and my experience plus lots of testing to know what will work best. I have been doing this testing for what like more than 6 years now? If I am not wrong. Takes a long time to build something successful but once you get the experience – you can rebuild the same thing in quite a short period.
So then there is a talk on social media and a look on the company’s social achievements again I was disappointed. The company has failed to realise the importance of social media to a large extent considering that they are still looking for a solution to fix their problems while other company’s have built themselves up really well. Now ARM Holdings is not a new company – I am guessing that the company failed to realise the social era and its importance at an early stage and is now trying to fix things up.
I consider marketing to be most important thing for any company. You have an excellent product, no marketing? fail! You have the worst product, excellent marketing? Sales! Perhaps some times when I see project of one of my friend “Jon”, I lay my stress on marketing. That genius got excellent skills and creative abilities – however no marketing, no popularity and hence project fail.
This job sounded more of a perfect fit for me. However, got told off someone had more experience than me. A total blow! How could that would have happened! That cannot happen! No way! I am expecting my casual approach was disliked? Maybe they din’t believe me? Maybe I was not communicative enough? Maybe I was childish? Someone was really better than me? BUT hey no one beats me in my own field (full confidence in that).
Posted in: Business | Tags: arm, holdings