Gateway going bankrupt

[ryan256]

Just got the notice in the mail today. Gateway Companies Inc., along with several other subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11.
We have been having a ton of trouble getting replacement parts for several of our machines from MPC, a Gateway subsidiary, for several months. Back in October we were informed that they were not able to get anymore parts in for some reason. Well... now we know why.

 

[zoiks]

Gateway 2000 going bust?

 

[ric1287]

but what will i do with my grossly overpriced p3 box!!!! NOOOOOOOO

 

[Mo0o]

Gateway was still in business?

 

[Scarpozzi]

I was on an RFP committee for hardware vendors. We reviewed MPC and they were 3rd place on the list for prices and support....but then we met as a group and 2 major groups of people told us stories about how they had ordered tablets from them. Apparently, they had some major parts issues and were in the process of moving manufacturing to Mexico. They purchased hundreds of tablets with an 80% fail rate and a 5-6 week backorder on the replacement parts they needed.


You can expect that after this year, they'll still be around if they can get manufacturing up to snuff there. They're going to be lacking in brand image, so it will be interesting to see if they emerge as the same company or end up getting bought out for their name.

 

[DnetMHZ]

Originally posted by: Mo0o
Gateway was still in business?

This

 

[vi edit]

Actually drove by their "Spotted Cow" factory in North Sioux City this summer. Place was a graveyard. I thought they were dead about 3 years ago?

 

[ryan256]

Originally posted by: vi edit
Actually drove by their "Spotted Cow" factory in North Sioux City this summer. Place was a graveyard. I thought they were dead about 3 years ago?

Apparently the last nail just got put in the coffin.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ

Originally posted by: Mo0o
Gateway was still in business?

This

They bought EMachines and sold under their brand. They actually made decent laptops (I got a gaming laptop with a Nvidia 9600 video card built in for $798 from them back in the day...the screen hinge is cracked but it still works).

 

[ryan256]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
I was on an RFP committee for hardware vendors. We reviewed MPC and they were 3rd place on the list for prices and support....but then we met as a group and 2 major groups of people told us stories about how they had ordered tablets from them. Apparently, they had some major parts issues and were in the process of moving manufacturing to Mexico. They purchased hundreds of tablets with an 80% fail rate and a 5-6 week backorder on the replacement parts they needed.


You can expect that after this year, they'll still be around if they can get manufacturing up to snuff there. They're going to be lacking in brand image, so it will be interesting to see if they emerge as the same company or end up getting bought out for their name.

That would be the tablet stylus pens. I have a spreadsheet detailing the serial numbers and service request numbers of the 400+ stylus pens we have had to have replaced for the 50 tablets I support.

 

[darkxshade]

Gateway went bust for a while now, Acer acquired them back in 2007 if I recall.

 

[venkman]

I'm typing this on a Gateway laptop. When my nvidia card finally croaks from that bug they were having, I won't get any support. They did have enough money to buy product plugs on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

 

[middlehead]

Originally posted by: darkxshade
Gateway went bust for a while now, Acer acquired them back in 2007 if I recall.

I remember Acer talking about it, but I never knew if it went through.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: ryan256
Just got the notice in the mail today. Gateway Companies Inc., along with several other subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11.
We have been having a ton of trouble getting replacement parts for several of our machines from MPC, a Gateway subsidiary, for several months. Back in October we were informed that they were not able to get anymore parts in for some reason. Well... now we know why.

I worked in IT for a school district in 2006 and they used all MPC. While the hardware was overall acceptable for the price, the complete and utter incompetence of everyone there was not. They shipped us the wrong keyboards for the entire batch (in a few shipments) of ~500 desktops 2 or 3 times and one time even yanked all the keyboards out of the sealed boxes and sent us a keyboardless shipment.

Add that to the fact that we had contracted with them to have their employees unbox the systems and hook them all up (~5 IT staff for 11,000 students in 28 buildings) and the employees left trash everywhere, did not hook them up properly, and in general made a mess of things and it was a small disaster.

So I say...good.

 

[darkxshade]

Originally posted by: middlehead

Originally posted by: darkxshade
Gateway went bust for a while now, Acer acquired them back in 2007 if I recall.

I remember Acer talking about it, but I never knew if it went through.

Just googled "acer acquire gateway"... didn't click into any of the articles but from the quick glance at all the links look like they acquired 90% of Gateway back in Aug 07 so yea it went through.

 

[QueBert]

This sucks, I had a Gateway 24" LCD, was really good (as far as LCD's go) I loved how the screen could be physically rotated 90 degrees, for me it was more cool than useful but I did use it from time to time

 

[funkymatt]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ

Originally posted by: Mo0o
Gateway was still in business?

This

They bought EMachines and sold under their brand. They actually made decent laptops (I got a gaming laptop with a Nvidia 9600 video card built in for $798 from them back in the day...the screen hinge is cracked but it still works).

back in the day? that laptop can't be more than 6 months old :laugh:

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: darkxshade

Originally posted by: middlehead

Originally posted by: darkxshade
Gateway went bust for a while now, Acer acquired them back in 2007 if I recall.

I remember Acer talking about it, but I never knew if it went through.

Just googled "acer acquire gateway"... didn't click into any of the articles but from the quick glance at all the links look like they acquired 90% of Gateway back in Aug 07 so yea it went through.

I thought Gateway is only an identity now...they were acquired by Acer

edit: OP, MPC bought Gateway's business segment...so gateway is not bankrupt, MPC is.

 

[shoRunner]

actually MPC the pc maker formerly known as micron filed for ch11, they had purchased gateway's "professional business" unit so maybe thats were the confusion comes from.

link

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Mo0o
Gateway was still in business?

They were doing really well in the education sector for some time.

 

[middlehead]

Originally posted by: darkxshade

Originally posted by: middlehead

Originally posted by: darkxshade
Gateway went bust for a while now, Acer acquired them back in 2007 if I recall.

I remember Acer talking about it, but I never knew if it went through.

Just googled "acer acquire gateway"... didn't click into any of the articles but from the quick glance at all the links look like they acquired 90% of Gateway back in Aug 07 so yea it went through.

Which would probably explain why they deactivated direct sales and switched entirely back to retail sales only.

 

[BoberFett]

Back in the day I would have compared Gateway 2000 directly with Dell. They were very similar companies in the early to mid 90s. I guess Dell made the right decisions and Gateway didn't.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: BoberFett
Back in the day I would have compared Gateway 2000 directly with Dell. They were very similar companies in the early to mid 90s. I guess Dell made the right decisions and Gateway didn't.

Instead of streamlining their process, they decided to match prices by using the cheapest parts they could find. Dell never wanted to have supply last more than 30 days....Gateway just wanted to buy what they wanted at the cheapest price and sell it until they got rid of all of it...even if it took 90 days and the competition had already did a refresh. By the time they realized this, it was too laste, they had tarnished their rep. In the end, when they actually started inventory control, it was too late.

 

[randay]

does this affect e-machines?

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: randay
does this affect e-machines?

no