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Acer to Acquire Gateway for $710 million

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the bargain-shopping dept.

downix writes "On the way into work today, I heard about Acer buying Gateway. A bold move strategically, I wonder what consequences this will have for Gateway's employees and customers. As the purchase price was at $1.90 per share, those of us that purchased Gateway shares a few years ago are reminded just how far it has fallen."

4 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Customers? by Colin+Smith · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Remove the cheapest competitors from the market and the average profit per unit increases.

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    Deleted
  2. Re:Customers? by jcr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Their stores were what killed them. They spent a pile of money and put stores up everywhere, with little to no thought about whether any given location made sense or not. Apple's retail operation is a textbook case on how to do it right. Gateway's is a textbook case on how to botch it.

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  3. Re:Customers? by mabhatter654 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    not having any ACTUAL COMPUTERS at the stores was the downfall I think. They had a lot of things like the Apple store, classes, training, but no repair, upgrade or hardware sales! It would seem to defeat the purpose of putting all the cool computers out there only to tell you to order it and wait 2 weeks for shipping. I also find my local "screwdriver" shop does this to. The point of being a computer store it to walk in and buy stuff!!! If you can't do that one simple thing, then I might as well go to BigBox where I can take home a crappy computer and take home the parts to upgrade it myself!!!

  4. Re:Customers? by AndyChrist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Things went to shit WAY earlier than that.

    As early as 1997, they were known by computer support at my university as "Rapeway."

    They had built a reputation for quality and service, but then decided to abandon both and ride that reputation into the ground, selling inferior, unreliable hardware at the prices their name commanded them before their fall.

    Packard Bell did this, albeit with a stolen pseudo-reputation (along the lines of Rockwood or Kenford). Compaq did it. HP seems to be in the process of doing it, and Dell is flirting with it. The Big Three US automakers did it. It's a decades-long, proud tradition of failure.