Gateway Gone But Cows To Stick Around

from the end-of-the-line dept

Mon, Aug 27th 2007 10:07am — Joseph Weisenthal

At one point, news that Gateway had been acquired by Acer would have been a significant development in the computer industry. But it's a sign of how far the company has fallen that the move isn't expected to have any material impact on the company's competitors. Basically, Acer, based in Taiwan, is looking to expand its footprint in North America and Europe and it was able to pick up the distant #4 in the US computer market for just $710 million. Because margins are low across the industry, every player is in a desperate race to keep volume high. At one point, Gateway tried to break out of its core business with an ill-conceived foray into consumer electronics, but it was eventually forced to return to its roots. However, things might not change much from the perspective of customers. Owing in part to Gateway's recognizable brand (the cow print boxes), Acer plans to continue, if not expand, the Gateway line.

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Filed Under: pcs
Companies: acer, gateway

20 Comments

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InSoMnIaC, 27 Aug 2007 @ 10:45am

I've owned two Gateway computers an old Pentium 1 and and a 2 year old laptop. Had nothing but problems with random hardware/drivers failing and Gateway's tech support kept saying it was my OS. The one they preinstalled. Therefore, I will have no pitty if they go under. My two cents
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- ehrichweiss, 27 Aug 2007 @ 10:58am
  
  Re:
  Agreed!! I had one of their emachines laptops and received such piss poor service from them that I vowed to never buy from them again regardless of how inexpensive they might be for the features they claim to have.
  
  For one, while trying to inform them that the server that handles their drivers was down, they focused on the fact that I had told them I had XP Pro installed instead of Home and simply told me that they couldn't help me at all.
  
  When I wrote to complain they told me I had to give them my serial number on my laptop to even make a freakin' complaint about their shoddy customer service.
  
  Then there's their OEM install that, when I sold the laptop and installed it, I discovered was unable to let the machine work past SP1; installing SP2 caused it to crash over AMD K7 PowerNow settings and no driver support for the display Drivers(which ATI is forced to leave up to the OEM for some odd reason). Took me 2 days of hacking the hardware to get it to a safe state.
  
  Am I sorry they're gone? Only if they don't leave a grave for me to dance on.
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- Chris, 27 Aug 2007 @ 2:08pm
  
  Re:
  Ever since I heard of Gateways back in the early 90's and had the displeasure of using them, I have hated them then and ever since. Brand new out of the box computers for a computer class with the first release of windows 98 and almost every single one went tits-up in the first week. BSOD's, random power downs, drivers going missing, files disappearing, CD drives opening on their own, it was grand. Quite simply gateway has never cared to create a single product worth a damn. Just something crappy enough to get sold to people who don't know any better.
  
  ACER has always been in the background, and their products work well enough for the price they ask for. They can be a little quirky at times, but at least their customer service department is at least willing to resolve your issues (at least they were in the past, I haven't used any of their products in years). However, in today's world where companies usualy sell for billions, being able to acquire not only just the trademark, but the production rights, and facilites as well for only $700mill, it can turn out to be an excellent investment if it's used the right way.
  
  Personally I think the only pre-fab desktop computers you should buy are Dell's. Wait for a sale to go on, get a free printer, camera, and flat screen upgrade for under $800 with a 2-year warranty included, plus the best customer service out there to boot. If ACER really wants to be very successful that's what they have to compete with for the #1 spot. Otherwise all they need to do is produce the same crap Sony and HP do, and they'll see smooth sailing for a few yeras to come.
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Lance Mertz, 27 Aug 2007 @ 10:52am

Gateway who?
They have become a non-entity. I remember back in the day of Windows 95 and 98 that they were the ones to beat. It only shows how a company can lose its way, no matter how successful it starts out to be.
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- imatek, 27 Aug 2007 @ 12:23pm
  
  Re: Gateway who?
  So a company that did 3.9billion in sales is a non-entity? Somehow I disagree. Sales actually increased 100 million over the year before revenues. Acer which others are disparaging in other comments will now be # three. And to the genius that was complaining about his "emachine" that was a little non-entity called IBM that was bought out by Lenovo.
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AlbinoRhino, 27 Aug 2007 @ 11:23am

Dumb dumb dumb
What the hell is Acer thinking here? "Hey! Let's buy a shoddy computer company for close to a billion dollars. We can add it to our crappy line of products. Yeah that's it!"

They would do best by ditching anything that will associate them with Gateway. Loose the cow print. Quick.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2007 @ 11:24am

I ordered a camera from them last month and they were never able to ship it and couldn't explain why. Then they had the audacity to ask me to fill out a customer service survey. Gateway has been done for awhile. I knew better than to deal with them, but they had a good price on the camera and I thought they might be able to handle a simple order. Obviously not though.
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MegaDon, 27 Aug 2007 @ 11:56am

From a branding perspective
From a branding perspective, I don't think that Acer loses anything by keeping the cow spots. GW has lost a step over the years, but there is still plenty of recognition. If they came up with some quality products and service to go along with the long standing and well known brand, they could end up making an impact. Acer isn't well known to the masses like GW. It'll be interesting to see where this goes.
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GoblinJuice, 27 Aug 2007 @ 12:23pm

$710 million to use moo cow spots? Something doesn't seem right. How about leopard print? How much will that cost?

I'd rather be a leopard than a cow.... =)
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2007 @ 12:32pm

An Acer (or two) in every home
I foresee Acer flooding the home and non-savvy business markets with cheap computers, sold on their low prices, not on their quality, similar to eMachines today and Packard Bell not too long ago.

Acer very well may find their fortune in the mass market, letting HP and Dell have the more-demanding business customers. The general public has no concept of computer components' quality and they tend to buy on price alone. If Acer can reduce the price of a PC to that of a disposable commodity, then the public may not mind buying a new computer every two years (Wal-Mart's dream?).
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2007 @ 12:47pm

Gateway lost me a long time ago when they bought the Amiga then sat on it.
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- ehrichweiss, 27 Aug 2007 @ 3:43pm
  
  Re:
  AMEN!! They really pissed me off with that as well. And how much do we hear of the Amiga these days? Nada, except in reminiscence. I'd be great if the cow spots went the same way as the Boing Ball.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2007 @ 12:59pm

Acer and Gateway both suck
does that mean their combined suck factor just got more sucky?
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Geoff, 27 Aug 2007 @ 1:01pm

I find it humorous that Gateway sold to Acer for about $150mill less than MySpace sold to NewsCorp.
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Overcast, 27 Aug 2007 @ 1:29pm

Wow, Acer... that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2007 @ 1:32pm

good riddance to bad rubbish
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Erk, 27 Aug 2007 @ 2:04pm

Acer, Aopen and Benq
Who?? As one in the industry for many years, all of these names are very familiar to me. Acer has been consistently winning industry awards for years. The acer line of laptops that include Texas Instruments are a very good product at a very good price. To say that they are unknown is more like saying "I don't know". System builders have been using aopen and benq for reliable products for years. As far as GW goes.. well, I have no positive things to say.
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dave, 27 Aug 2007 @ 6:47pm

I bought a 24" LCD monitor 'made' by Gateway and it's worked fine for me so far, just to add a positive comment to the listings. But Gateway certainly hasn't been spending any money on marketing here in Canada, as the only reason I even knew about the product was that it was in the FutureShop I was walking through and it was $100 cheaper than the same size screen by Dell.
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kohm, 28 Aug 2007 @ 11:07pm

Gateway
Compaq, Gateway,Acer(Gateway's new owner) and every other manufacturer in third world countries with third world labor will be surprised when America becomes PROTECTIONIST and you guys will have to sell your product in Manchuria.

I'm sure the market is tremendous !
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Charles eaton, 30 Apr 2008 @ 6:35pm

Gateway is a gateway to poor customer service
I bought a laptop from best buy three weeks ago, but it only had 14 days to return it, well on the 15th day it died. It was a gateway so I now have been waiting 16 days and gateway still can't tell me what is wrong and when the parts are coming in ?? And most of all I think they don't care either. It seems this is going to be a bad trip down the poor service road. It is too bad gateway had a good name at one time, befor Acer bought them. DO NOT BUY A GATEWAY OR YOU WILL BE LIKE ME SORRY!!!!!!!
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