Acer to acquire Gateway: so long cow spots?

Acer -- the third largest PC company globally -- just announced a definitive agreement to acquire Gateway. The acquisition has been approved unanimously by both boards and is expected to close by December 2007. You know, following the usual international, anti-trust approvals. Sure seems like a win-win what with Gateway steadily losing market share (but still tied for third largest PC maker in the US) while finally giving Taiwan's Acer a dominant position in the Americas to match their aggressive growth in Europe and Asia. From the looks of the press release, it would appear that the Gateway (and eMachines) brands will continue under Acer's new "multi-branded company." Fine, but could we now get rid of the cow spots, please? It's not 1985 anymore.

[Via Notebooks]

[Rob @ Aug 27th 2007 7:15AM]

Is it "1985" or "1995"?
I think it should've been "1995."
Right?

[Ed @ Aug 27th 2007 7:48AM]

Well, Gateway 2000 started in 1985. Didn't get to be "big" until the early 90's though.

[Mac Lover @ Aug 27th 2007 7:20AM]

What is wrong with the cow spots? Would you tell Apple to lose the apple with a bite out of it? Would you tell Chevy to lose the bow tie? Maybe you'd like Sun to lose the un logo that spells Sun? Would you have AT&T get rid of the Death Star?

On second thought don't answer that last one. The point is logos of major companies are fixed to a point in the past. They have all fought long and hard to get those images so engraved in our memories that we can't help but think of their products any time we're out shopping and pick up a bushel of Granny Smith's.

Leave the cow spots alone and lose the "acer" logos for the US branded systems. Sure, use all the clout and money and etc of Acer, but push the Gateway brand back to where it used to be. There is a cycle in business that needs to be learned, and then used to forget the entire middle half of the cycle.

Gateway, when they were Gateway 2000 way back in the way back, I remember the entire reason I went with Gateway instead of any of the other major brands of the day. Service and Support. At the time Gateway support was second only to the service from Gateway sales staff. They fought their rear ends off for the customer and made sure that the customer was so happy they wondered if the boxes were laced with certain skin absorbed chemicals.

Then they had to compete to keep up, just like everyone else, and the customer became 2nd, then 3rd, then 4th behind the shareholders, and the profits, and the bottom line. The middle part of the cycle I mentioned.

All startups start with the right brain in place. (If they are to succeed they have to) and the mantra that "The Customer is Always Right." I've heard recently from some certain companies I won't name that "The Customer is Not Always Right, and Usually Aren't Even Sure of what They Want." This is wrong, when you start thinking like this you start your transition to the middle cycle.

As a business grows and shifts and reshapes they forget how they got to where they are. They change their entire business model, then wonder what the hell happened. The companies that get through that portion and on the other side find out, they finally remember that "The Customer is Always Right."

Is the Customer often a royal pain in the rear? Yes, very often. Is the customer directly responsible for your bottom line? Oh very much so thank you. When I had a problem with an iPod, and took it to the local Apple Store, the iPod was replaced with a new one without so much as an "This is going to take 6 to 8 months to be sent out and be repaired" Was it probably something really simple that I myself may have accidently done? Very likely. Did they quibble? Not at all.

I bought an opened boxed eMac from Fry's Electronics and they had given the original software set (with 10.4 Tiger) to *another* opened box eMac that originally shipped with 10.3 Panther. When I got it home and used the software to wipe and reinstall my video was messed up because it didn't have proper drivers. Did they indicate I'd need to call Apple? Or even that they'd call Apple and order a CD set and have them shipped to me in 4 to 5 weeks?

No, they told me to come back in and when I did they handed me two boxes. A retail copy of Tiger, and a retail copy of Toast. For my trouble. I haven't stepped into a Best Buy in almost two years. I guess I was one of those complaining customers they prayed to the Gods to get rid of, well they have and I now shop at Fry's.

Acer, if you or someone who has family working for Acer, is reading this - know this. I own an Acer laptop. I have owned Gateway machines in the past for the reasons I stated. I also have Macs in the house (oh my email gave me away) and I would buy a Gateway again if I *knew* that the support I had received in 1992 would be the same again today. Some may call me fickle, but coming from a career in technical and phone customer support, I have a rather strong outlook on it. I follow the support.

But that's just my two cents on the matter.

[Deluxe @ Aug 27th 2007 7:28AM]

A little more than 2 cents...

[dpjax @ Aug 27th 2007 7:37AM]

Is that a dissertation?

There is no way I'm reading all that crap.

[Ed @ Aug 27th 2007 7:42AM]

Young whippersnappers! Get off my lawn! *vigorously shaking cane*

Fine, it's my dime then. No wonder they say people aren't buying books anymore. Youngsters can't even take the time to read a couple paragraphs.

[bob @ Aug 27th 2007 7:50AM]

tl; dr

[Chris Macdonald @ Aug 27th 2007 9:32AM]

I read the whole thing, can you believe that? the WHOLE thing!

[iliarules @ Aug 27th 2007 10:53AM]

I agree with you for the most part. Except "the customer is always right". Maybe this was true, when fewer people were buying computers... but now every idiot has one... and most of them really don't know what they want. They buy the HP with the stickers on it that say "Lightning quick DVD burning for family photos!" and stuff... and then proceed to not use those features and call tech support because they're too stupid to figure out how to use things. If the customer was always right, it would mean people were smart. So.. the customer, in this country, is becoming less and less right all the time.

[Ed @ Aug 27th 2007 11:01AM]

iliarules
-------
Actually, the reasons you just mentioned make the rule even *more* true, not less. As intelligent "geeky" type support techs, it's our job to hold hands and to help teach people how to use their gadgets. So when they say "It doesn't work" they are absolutely Right that it isn't working for them and we must make sure they go away happy. Period. Otherwise they take their money elsewhere, and that's bad for companies. Means they lose customers, which means they lose business, thereby losing revenue and spiraling toward bankruptcy so they have to be bought by Acer.

Like I said in the original, are Customers a royal pain in the rear? Of course they are, that's why they are *support* customers. If they *knew* what they were doing, they wouldn't need support.

Chris
-------
Uppity youngsters are getting smarmy! Where's my cane?

[VeteranDave @ Aug 27th 2007 12:50PM]

The customer IS always right. It doesn't matter if we don't know how to use all the bells and whistles, what matters is that the customer gets what he/she wants for the money they are spending. Granted, they may not know how to use it at first, but that's not because the customer is wrong, it's because it's new to them. When the customer's whims change, that doesn't mean they're wrong either, it just means that the market needs are changing and businesses need to be aware of that to stay in the race for the market share. It's always been up to the people to say: " Hey, we want this..." not for the companies to say: "hey, you need this". Supply and demand...the simplest breakdown of economics. The customer is ALWAYS right, because we are making the demands.

[Prosthetic Lips @ Sep 8th 2007 2:10PM]

>> I've heard recently from some certain companies I won't name
>> that "The Customer is Not Always Right, and Usually Aren't
>> Even Sure of what They Want."

My next-door-neighbor called tech support with an HP computer, only to have them completely destroy the setup. So when they talked about sending it in, he wanted to swap computers, or at least get a loaner. No can do. Even up to a supervisor and their supervisor. The final link in the chain gave the definitive word: It ain't gonna happen. He was computer-less for about a week and a half.

We adopted that as our company motto (not with management approval, of course).

Bottom line was that the customer was NOT #1 there. I tell people to stay away from HP now, unless they are never going to call tech support. They have become the new "Packard Bell" in my book ;-) .

..Prosthetic Lips

[mike @ Aug 27th 2007 11:45AM]

Completely agree on the Apple & Best Buy parts.

I replaced my 4G iPod 5 times, and they eventually just gave me a new 5G that works great. Technology can fail, even for Apple. But how you fix it is what matters.

Best Buy... why do people still shop here? Nightmare.

[boolean22 @ Aug 27th 2007 11:45AM]

Let me recycle:

Costumer MUST think he is right. Your task is to take him to a point were he thinks everything you told him to do was what he was thinking.

Costumers must to be LED to think they have done the right thing calling you. Even if you know that he'd rather call a friend to help him, or his son!

Costumers MUST to be happy when the conversation ends. It's your task to make him believe that everything is gonna be alright.

Costumers may have a good reason to be upset, but it's badly communicated. You have to make him detail the problem as if he was trying to help you instead.

Cheers!

[ethana2 @ Aug 27th 2007 7:53PM]

I love how half the replies are to this one post ;)

I read most of it. I'll read a book if it's public domain and online, but print and copyright can go off in a corner and die.

And as long as people say "I want windows", I say they know what they want. They're just idiots, that's all. Throw in an Ubuntu install CD for pity and let them on their way ;)

[Jeremiah Hoffman @ Aug 27th 2007 8:15PM]

i agree with mac lover even if he is a mac lover. i'm flamebait in saying this but i still love my acer tablet running vista business (used to be xp tablet till i upgraded) gateway was going to be my next tablet/laptop purchase with their nice looking cx-140x but now that acer is buying them i might wait to see if acer comes out with a new 14.0" tablet based lightly on said gateway tablet but with a possibly better price. also i've never had a bad experince calling acer tech support everyone i talked to lived in either texas or san jose, CA acer two US bases. they were always freindly, and i never waited more the 5 minutes on hold. hoping they'll pass this awesome service onto gateway and that gateway/acer/emachines/benq/ali labs/aopen will rise and become top dog

[ryan @ Sep 5th 2007 11:37PM]

LOL deathstar. I never thought about it that way. haha when you think about it, it is a death star.

[Zoolander @ Aug 27th 2007 8:11AM]

Just kill the Gateway brand please. They make the shittiest products. We've filled storage rooms with dead Gateway monitors.

[Dan @ Aug 27th 2007 8:41AM]

Wow, when 2 turds collide! This should be an exciting merger.

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 27th 2007 8:53AM]

Exactly what I was thinking.

The excrement fallout will help the crops though.

[Shonari @ Aug 27th 2007 8:52AM]

hopefully this help acer get bigger in us market.

[Chris Macdonald @ Aug 27th 2007 9:27AM]

Anybody else notice the sorta have the same "e" in their logo/title things?

[js @ Aug 27th 2007 10:42AM]

Sooner or later, the Chinese will take over the world. Oh, the irony!

[John @ Aug 27th 2007 11:42AM]

Acer is Taiwanese. But I'm sure to you, all "them squinty-eyed folks" are the same.

[Scooter @ Aug 27th 2007 6:39PM]

@John,
that would be Taiwan ROC (Republic of China).
It is an unofficial city state, and sure isn't a country recognised by any other...
Not that I don't have sympathy for their plight, but don't go kidding yourselves they are not Chinese.

[PS3guy @ Aug 27th 2007 10:38AM]

Nothing wrong with cow spot.

[ethana2 @ Aug 27th 2007 7:55PM]

They should use a different animal skin for each model of pc.

You know, leopard spots, tiger stripes, alligator scales, all that. On second thought, try to stay away from the cats in case apple comes for you...

[ITSupport @ Aug 28th 2007 10:18PM]

I'm an IT guy for a small to midsize company, we've been using Gateway laptops for the about 4 years now. They're not great, they're OK by anyones standards, but their Warranty and support is the reason I keep buying from them, not to mention they are the cheapest laptops I can find for the specs. We just started buying PC's and haven't had any problems with them so far either, and the they also saved us $100 each from the comparable HP's we were buying.

I'll stick with Gateway through the merger as long as our sales guy keeps us happy and their support stays as easy as it has been.

[Mitch @ Aug 27th 2007 11:38AM]

Great 2 of the lowest quality PC manufactures are getting together. Acer's quality is abysmal and Gateway is not far behind. We recently purchased 3 gateway laptops and all 3 had to be repaired withing a year. So, from an IT perspective if you want constant headaches continue to buy from these companies. Not to say that DELL or HP products do not have problems but they are have a far fewer then ACER or Gateway. At one time Gateway made quality systems but those days are long gone. What you seem to be missing is the time it takes you to deal with the problem and the lost productivity by both you and the end user of the system far out way any initial savings. If it take the IT department 3 hours to deal with handling the repair and the end user of the system looses only 1 day of productivity, you have already lost far more then $100.00
You get what you pay for!

[PS3guy @ Aug 27th 2007 1:22PM]

Why can't we have Samsung brand laptop here in the States.

[ethana2 @ Aug 27th 2007 7:57PM]

I just caught your name. Have you tried just using a ps3 as a pc? Nerds like me do it all the time, but I was wondering about the graphics card drivers before I went out and bought one.

[PS3guy @ Aug 28th 2007 12:01PM]

Yellow Dog Linux run great on the PS3.

[orbitalsand @ Aug 27th 2007 10:59PM]

Cow spots on the red Acer Ferrari laptop. Ugh!

[Ed @ Aug 28th 2007 12:34AM]

Why would there be cow spots on anything? They don't have cow spots on the computers they sell now. The spots are on the boxes the machines come in. We do all know why the boxes have spots, right?

[PRINCE S ALAPPAT @ Oct 30th 2007 4:49PM]

Please tell me what will happen to my gtw- stocks .So far I saw no stock symbol change or any activity . I hope i will not loose my money, Any comments. Thanks PSA