Gateway, Incorporated
was an American computer hardware company based in Irvine, California,
which developed, manufactured, supported, and marketed a wide range of
personal computers, computer monitors, servers, and computer
accessories. 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. Gateway became widely
known in 1991 when they started shipping their computer hardware in
cow-spotted boxes, their creative advertising in Computer Shopper and
other magazines.
Gateway struggled after the dot-com bust and tried several strategies to return to profitability, including withdrawal from international markets, reduction in the number of retail stores and most significantly, entering the consumer electronics business. However, none of these efforts were particularly successful from a financial standpoint, and Gateway continued to suffer major losses as well as market share in the PC business. By April 1, 2004, Gateway had announced that it would shut down its 188 remaining stores.
Recently, Gateway has resourced customer support within North America, priding itself as "100% North America-based support". Gateway has 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 currently employs 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 September 4, 2007 Gateway announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its professional business segment to MPC Corporation. This includes the company's Nashville-based configuration center.
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."
Gateway struggled after the dot-com bust and tried several strategies to return to profitability, including withdrawal from international markets, reduction in the number of retail stores and most significantly, entering the consumer electronics business. However, none of these efforts were particularly successful from a financial standpoint, and Gateway continued to suffer major losses as well as market share in the PC business. By April 1, 2004, Gateway had announced that it would shut down its 188 remaining stores.
Recently, Gateway has resourced customer support within North America, priding itself as "100% North America-based support". Gateway has 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 currently employs 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 September 4, 2007 Gateway announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its professional business segment to MPC Corporation. This includes the company's Nashville-based configuration center.
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."
HISTORY OF COMPUTERS - continued (PREV) (PAGE 1)
1930s–1960s: DESKTOP CALCULATORS
Curta calculator
By the 1900s earlier mechanical calculators, cash registers, accounting machines, and so on were redesigned to use electric motors, with gear position as the representation for the state of a variable. Companies like Friden, Marchant Calculator and Monroe made desktop mechanical calculators from the 1930s that could add, subtract, multiply and divide. The word "computer" was a job title assigned to people who used these calculators to perform mathematical calculations. During the Manhattan project, future Nobel laureate Richard Feynman was the supervisor of the roomful of human computers, many of them women mathematicians, who understood the differential equations which were being solved for the war effort. Even the renowned Stanislaw Ulam was pressed into service to translate the mathematics into computable approximations for the hydrogen bomb, after the war.
In 1948, the Curta was introduced. This was a small, portable, mechanical calculator that was about the size of a pepper grinder. Over time, during the 1950s and 1960s a variety of different brands of mechanical calculator appeared on the market.
(CONT)
