Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Acer and Gateway

Acer's proposed takeover of Gateway It's a good move by Acer.

Like Dell, Gateway lost the plot sometime around the year 2000 when the PC industry was hit by the post Y2K downturn. Dell went on a downmarket splurge while Gateway tried to get into fields it didn't understand such as retail stores.

One of the ways Gateway saved itself was by retreating from foreign markets and concentrating on their home US market.

In this light it will be interesting to see how Acer deals with the Gateway and e-machine brands outside the US. The reports indicate Acer have made the purchase to increase US market share. So perhaps we won't see the Gateway brand reappearing soon.