3 ms·

Apple of the Midwest? It was a run of the mill IBM/PC clone that wasn't special in any way.

by alar44 4y ago

longtimelistnr 4y ago
They did have retail stores, which as a person younger than the average on here is something that differentiates Gateway from say Compaq or eMachines in my mind
- williamtwild 4y ago
  The problem i saw in my area was they opened up shop almost right across the street from comp-usa. I used to haunt that comp-usa and frequently i would hear people talk about just being over there. Their mai compalint was that they had to wait for thier computer but they could just buy one at comp-usa and leave with it. I am surprised they lasted as long as they did.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
Avshalom 4y ago
Certainly wasn't Apple but as a kid, until Dell started it's advertising blitz, Gateway definitely felt... authoritative?, functionally first party? in a way that none of the other DOS/Windows boxen did.
supramouse 4y ago
I wanted one because of the cool cow boxes
- jeffbee 4y ago
  They were identified so strongly with the box that in the later stages of the company they actually changed their logo from the gold letter "G" to the cow box itself. So the computer came in a cow box, and there was a cow box in isometric perspective on the computer.
twoodfin 4y ago
There weren’t that many large, direct-to-consumer clone makers. Gateway 2000 was basically a peer to Dell for > half a decade. Dell made the jump to web-driven build-to-order, which put them in position to ride the Wintel wave into servers. Gateway doubled down on the increasingly commoditized consumer market.
- GekkePrutser 4y ago
  There was IBM, Packard Bell, Hewlett-Packard, eMachines, Compaq before the acquisition and here in Europe a number of more local brands (eg Tulip in the Netherlands, Escom and Vobis in a lot of countries) too. Gateway was a fairly big thing here too but Dell not so much in stores as they only ever sold online here. And that was still a bit 'scary' for most consumers when gateway was still a thing. Dell did more B2B because of that. But I think there were a lot of them tbh. I'm sure I forgot many too :)
  - twoodfin 4y ago
    None of those were direct-to-consumer in the US. They all sold through retailers.

Apple of the Midwest? It was a run of the mill IBM/PC clone that wasn't special in any way.

by alar44 4y ago

Apple of the Midwest? It was a run of the mill IBM/PC clone that wasn't special in any way.

They did have retail stores, which as a person younger than the average on here is something that differentiates Gateway from say Compaq or eMachines in my mind

williamtwild 4y ago
The problem i saw in my area was they opened up shop almost right across the street from comp-usa. I used to haunt that comp-usa and frequently i would hear people talk about just being over there. Their mai compalint was that they had to wait for thier computer but they could just buy one at comp-usa and leave with it. I am surprised they lasted as long as they did.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

Avshalom 4y ago

Certainly wasn't Apple but as a kid, until Dell started it's advertising blitz, Gateway definitely felt... authoritative?, functionally first party? in a way that none of the other DOS/Windows boxen did.

supramouse 4y ago

I wanted one because of the cool cow boxes

jeffbee 4y ago
They were identified so strongly with the box that in the later stages of the company they actually changed their logo from the gold letter "G" to the cow box itself. So the computer came in a cow box, and there was a cow box in isometric perspective on the computer.

twoodfin 4y ago

There weren’t that many large, direct-to-consumer clone makers. Gateway 2000 was basically a peer to Dell for > half a decade. Dell made the jump to web-driven build-to-order, which put them in position to ride the Wintel wave into servers. Gateway doubled down on the increasingly commoditized consumer market.

GekkePrutser 4y ago
There was IBM, Packard Bell, Hewlett-Packard, eMachines, Compaq before the acquisition and here in Europe a number of more local brands (eg Tulip in the Netherlands, Escom and Vobis in a lot of countries) too. Gateway was a fairly big thing here too but Dell not so much in stores as they only ever sold online here. And that was still a bit 'scary' for most consumers when gateway was still a thing. Dell did more B2B because of that. But I think there were a lot of them tbh. I'm sure I forgot many too :)
- twoodfin 4y ago
  None of those were direct-to-consumer in the US. They all sold through retailers.