Gateway Bought by Acer: New Beginning or End of Era?

One of my earliest desktop PCs was a Gateway and so was my first notebook PC (not counting the RadioShack Model 100). When I heard today's news that Gateway was acquired by Acer for $710 million, I felt a rush of nostalgia.

IBM sold its computer division to Lenovo, based in China. Packard Bell went to the French. Gateway will be owned by a Taiwanese company. Not better or worse, mind you. Just different.

Ted Waitt, founder of Gateway (1985), was my first and biggest advertiser when I ran FamilyPC, then a Disney/Ziff-Davis magazine.

I remember heading out to Sioux City, SD, to visit the Gateway factory. I stayed in a small tract home that Gateway used for visitors. It was called Katmandu. The living room had a way-before-its-time, massive Gateway Destination TV/PC. The refrigerator held Jell-O, pudding, and English muffins. The cows mooed in the adjacent field. The whole place smelled as though the fertilizer had been put down five minutes before my arrival. It was a distinctly American experience.

Ted Waitt's company was all about price and value. To keep prices low Gateway was the first to assemble the PCs after they were mail-ordered. Inventory of parts and components was kept lean. And of course, there was no personal or corporate income tax in South Dakota, and plenty of people to work at low wages.

To keep the brand at the top of consumers' minds there were the ubiquitous cow-boxes that lined the cul-de-sacs and garages of America. Ted thought that if you saw your neighbor with the box then you'd want one too. And no one can forget the commercials where Ted Waitt dressed as Robin Hood (or was it Maid Marian?) or talking cows humored folks into buying Gateway PCs.

In recent years Gateway tried both an ambitious retail effort, the Gateway Country Stores, and an ambitious installation at home. Neither one could compete with the big electronics stores.

From reading the press comments, it seems as though Acer wants to revitalize the brand, not close it down. According to an article posted on Yahoo! News, Acer says it wants to take advantage of Gateway's strong consumer brand.

Gateway PCs will live on, but I'm not sure Acer's president is running out to buy a Holstein today. Ted Waitt, for those of you that don't know, has gone on to become a tremendous philanthropist.

To read about Gateway's heyday. And if anyone finds a clip of the early Gateway TV commercials let us know.