Volvo was, before FORD became involved, reputed to be one of the safest cars in the world. I don't know how they're viewed now, but, still, the notion that one drives a Volvo suggests he's a safety-conscious, relatively conservative, probably professional individual who cares about comfort and safety. It also suggests he/she may be tall, as Volvo provides more headroom than many other cars.

If I were interested in ARM, I guarantee you, ATMEL's offering would be the LAST one I consider. I've already been down that road once, and it cost my client company a year's effort. Their support products didn't work, and, ultimately, as their CPU didn't work, which explained why none of their vastly (7.5X) overpriced evaluation hardware worked, they withdrew their ARM CPU from the market.

The way in which they dealt with us said all that needed to be said about the way they view their customers. Nobody I know will ever consider them unless forced to do so, even if their component is far cheaper than the rest. It's just not worth the risk.

RE