2 for 1: Gateway Struggles to Meet Earnings

Associated Press ^ | December 14, 2002

[new cruelty]

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- In an effort to boost sales during the holiday shopping period, Gateway Inc. is giving away free computers to customers who purchase one of the company's high-end machines.

The two-for-one deal is one of several promotions the struggling Poway-based company is offering between now and Christmas to beef up business. The company is also offering free shipping and handling on select PC purchases and is selling its PCs intended for at-home use with 2,000 songs pre-installed.

Earlier this month, CEO Ted Waitt said that if Gateway does not have several strong weeks of sales in December the company would fail to meet its earnings targets for the fourth quarter.

In October, Gateway forecast a loss of 10 cents to 13 cents for the fourth quarter and full-year sales of between $4.3 billion and $4.5 billion.

To qualify for the free PC, customers must spend either $3,500 on Gateway's high-end 700 series PC or $2,400 on its high-priced laptop. Both machines come fully loaded, spokeswoman Ashley Wood said Friday. The free computer offer is for Gateways' valued priced PC and does not include a monitor.

Other computer makers have previously offered free equipment with the purchase of a computer but Gateway is the first to offer a free computer, according to Forbes.com.

[Hank Rearden]

Scratch Gateway from my list of possible computers.

They got scratched from mine (in favor of Dell) when they opened those stupid stores, then had to charge me sales tax for the Big Government Parasites even for mail orders - thus adding over 8% to the price. This, even though the closest Cow Store was over 100 miles away and totally useless to me, even if I'd wanted to go there and talk to salespunks who knew much less than I do.

Truly stupid, Cow Boy Ted.

I agree with the poster above; short Gateway - they'll be subsumed or go under in 2003.

[chilepepper]

The ones i build myself after excruciating angst in carefully selecting the components have been pretty successfull - of course i run Linux 99% of the time and run my DUAL celeron 366MHz run at 550MHz overclocked 24/7 (has a ABIT BP6 board...)

when it overheats the browser can go belly up but otherwise its a pretty fine machine

my other machine is a dual processor pentium pro 200 which is from Micron, whose desktops i find pretty good - i've had it about 5 years now and it runs 24/7 - i NEVER turn it off willingly (it runs Linux OF COURSE and is my family SAMBA server) Micron (at least mine) has no "specially made" devices like those from Gateway. Gateway would go to a component manufacturer and say: build us a cheaper version of you modem/sound_card/graphics_card etc (leave out some of the neater features you usually include)...and oh, by the way, YOU DON'T HAVE TO SUPPORT IT with new drivers etc...

of course, Gateway support for older machines and these odd-ball devices "specially made for Gateway" is *really great* - NOT

[chilepepper]

I think Gateway machines before 1995 were pretty good

Cow brain Ted went for quality and a good reputation with his early products, then decided to MILK that reputation and make money until the reputation went dry - has had a good run of it but the "cows" who still buy his product are finally starting to wake up (sorry for the insult for you Gateway fans)

I bought mine based on the reputation of these early Pentium Gateways - right after they started to cheapen the product. The Penitum 120 i bought in 1995 was absolutely TERRIBLE and TERRIBLY EXPENSIVE...

[Brad C.]

I wonder just who is going to pay the artists the royalties due them for all that music that is being transferred free of charge.

[new cruelty]

"...After the free trials, consumers can get the Pressplay service, which provides more than 200,000 songs and additional features, with pricing options starting from $9.95 a month. ..."

from post number 5

[Brad C.]

Also from 5

"Under the Pressplay deal, Gateway consumers can access the Pressplay service and features in several ways, including a 90-day free subscription to the service that contains 2,000 songs preloaded and available for streaming and downloading."

So when the owner of the computer starts downloading the songs that were loaded for free on to his computer to other users, will they be violating the copyright laws?

[new cruelty]

I would think that the download is not meant to be shared. Hillary Rosen would know.

[SoDak]

I've never run into a computer I couldn't get to run like it should, including Macs. They're ok, but I wouldn't buy one. I don't need an OS that will hold my hand, and certainly don't need exorbitantly-priced hardware. I have recently recommended a Mac to a friend of mine, because she's under the impression I know nothing about Macs, so my level of support for her computer will go down drastically. And that's a very good thing.

[SoDak]

The only way to get what you want is to build it yourself, it's what I do also. Every manufacturer out there uses some OEM parts, usually substandard. You got lucky on that particular Micron, because I have 4 of them, a Pentium 166 and three 200's, in an office at a remote location and each of them has OEM parts.