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Gateway Incorporated, an Acer Inc. subsidiary, is a computer hardware company headquartered in Irvine, California, USA which develops, manufactures, supports, and markets a wide range of personal computers, computer monitors, servers, and computer accessories. It became a well-known brand in 1991 when it started shipping its computer hardware in cow-spotted boxes and for its creative advertising in Computer Shopper and other magazines. In the early and mid-2000s, the company struggled; after years as a fixture on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies worldwide, the company was not listed in 2006, having dropped to number 508. On September 4, 2007 Gateway announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to sell its professional business segment to MPC Corporation. This includes the company’s Nashville-based configuration center. MPC subsequently ceased its services and filed for bankruptcy protection in early 2009, leaving Gateway business customers stranded without access to support or warranty services. This incident has caused substantial damage to the Gateway brand. On October 16, 2007, Acer Inc. completed its acquisition of Gateway for approximately US$710 million. Its final share price of US$1.90 was far below the US$4.00 average price in the mid 1990s and drastically below a high of US$84 in late 1999. The US$1.90 per share was just barely over half of the split-adjusted IPO price of US$3.75 in 1993
Gateway Beijing 
Dolls of the mascot cow, formerly sold by Gateway Gateway was founded on September 5, 1985, on a farm outside Sioux City, Iowa, by Ted Waitt and Mike Hammond. Originally called Gateway 2000, it was one of the first widely successful direct sales PC companies, utilizing a sales model copied from Dell, and playing up its Iowa roots with low-tech advertisements proclaiming "Computers from Iowa?". Shipping computers in spotted boxes patterned after cow markings (specifically, Holstein cows) became a Gateway standard. In 1989 Gateway moved its corporate offices and production facilities to North Sioux City, South Dakota. In line with the Holstein cow mascot, Gateway opened a chain of retail stores called Gateway Country Stores, mostly in suburban areas across the United States. It dropped the "2000" from its name on October 31, 1998.
Like most large corporations, Gateway has outsourced some of its operations, such as customer support. In 2002, Gateway expanded into the consumer electronics world with products that included plasma screen TVs, digital cameras, DLP projectors, wireless internet routers, and MP3 players. While the company enjoyed some success in gaining substantial market share from traditional leaders in the space, particularly with plasma TVs and digital cameras, the limited short-term profit potential of these product lines led then-CEO Wayne Inouye to pull the company out of that segment during 2004. Gateway still acts as a retailer selling third-party electronic goods online. Gateway has resourced customer support within North America, priding itself as "100% North America-based support". Gateway also moved build-to-order desktop, laptop, and server manufacturing back to the United States, with the opening of its Gateway Configuration Center in Nashville, Tennessee in September 2006. It employed 385 people in that location. As of April 2007 Gateway notebook computers were produced in China and its desktops had "made in Mexico" stickers. On October 16, 2007, Acer completed its acquisition of Gateway for US$710 million. J.T. Wang, the company’s chairman, said in a statement that the acquisition "completes Acer’s global footprint, by strengthening our U.S. presence." On July 27, 2008, Gateway ended all direct sales from Gateway.com and phone orders. All new Gateway products could now only be purchased from major retailers and on other online sites. On August 14, 2009, Gateway has relaunched their brand in Australia after a long absence from Australia’s market. They have started with the sale of laptops and netbooks, and Gateway has now launched their desktop line in sync with the launch of Windows 7. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : Shops in computers, peripherals and software |
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