coaten, you make many very good points. This is a roll-of-the-dice decision for Gateway. IMHO it’s an act of desperation.

By the way, which burger chain is it?

The only burger chain I know of that’s almost exclusively in California is In-N-Out Burger. But I don’t think the folks at In-N-Out have a desire to be bigger than McDonald’s. In-N-Out doesn’t use frozen beef and the fries are made from fresh potatos sliced on site, only moments before being tossed in the fryer. The shakes are made from real ice cream

Any other In-N-Out fans among our members?

Now back to our regularly scheduled topic:

I don’t see how the Gateway can survive this ad campaign and the company’s decision to divert its precious and few remaining resources to try and sell the all-in-one to consumers.

coaten, you make many very good points. This is a roll-of-the-dice decision for Gateway. IMHO it’s an act of desperation.

By the way, which burger chain is it?

The only burger chain I know of that’s almost exclusively in California is In-N-Out Burger. But I don’t think the folks at In-N-Out have a desire to be bigger than McDonald’s. In-N-Out doesn’t use frozen beef and the fries are made from fresh potatos sliced on site, only moments before being tossed in the fryer. The shakes are made from real ice cream

Any other In-N-Out fans among our members?

Now back to our regularly scheduled topic:

I don’t see how the Gateway can survive this ad campaign and the company’s decision to divert its precious and few remaining resources to try and sell the all-in-one to consumers.

Re: Outta left field

[quote author=“coaten”]
Thanks for your input, Dawntreader, you’re obviously close to this. My post omitted much for the sake not only of brevity but because my understanding of US corporate law is next to nil.

Thanks for the compliment. It’s part of what we do at The Mac Observer. We have the best and most comprehensive coverage of Apple’s financial activities of any independent Mac site on the Internet.

If you wish to learn more about Apple’s financial activities I recommend that you read the Apple Stock Watch Reports and follow our daily news reports.

Robert

[quote author=“DawnTreader”]coaten, you make many very good points. This is a roll-of-the-dice decision for Gateway. IMHO it’s an act of desperation.

By the way, which burger chain is it?

The only burger chain I know of that’s almost exclusively in California is In-N-Out Burger. But I don’t think the folks at In-N-Out have a desire to be bigger than McDonald’s. In-N-Out doesn’t use frozen beef and the fries are made from fresh potatos sliced on site, only moments before being tossed in the fryer. The shakes are made from real ice cream
.

The conversation was held three years ago in a bar at the Beverly Hills Peninsula. Neither of us were drunk I’ll have you know but I honestly can’t recall the name of the burger chain.

It’s on the tip of my tongue but seeing how it was supposed to be a discrete chat I’d best keep it to myself although the one you’re describing does sound similar to the one we talked about.

Amazingly, the burger chain in question managed to survive for some time not by offering a better product but by opening a store, exhausting local trade and then selling up. As the story turned out, the burger chain actually managed to achieve critical mass to sustain a re-think of its product line and change the management structure away from the top-down model that was killing it.

The moral of the story, of course, was that in America you can get away with poor business practice, poor product and poor management because of the sheer weight of numbers in schmuks willing to throw their money at you. At least, that’s true anyway for California. It worked for Microsoft. 8)

Apple Will Benefit MORE

Think about it. For those who know nothing of Apple, they will likely wonder why on earth Gateway is attacking Apple ...  Apple, who has (as PC advocates are so quick to point out) such a “small market share”, and is often an “unknown company” to casual computer users.  Why bother??

And especially since there has been a lot of good press about Apple (for the most part). Business Week, Wall Street Journal, even PC magazines are quite favorable of Macs, iMacs, 10.2. So, anyone capable of thinking will wonder why Gateway is all negative. Is Gateway nervous? Trying not to appear as a copycat? Desperate?

It gives me an impression of fear more than anything else ... in part, fear that Apple will continue to increase market share because they have GOOD products and GOOD services.

A Mac Convert

I found this in a post over at MacCentral and got a good chuckle:

maybe simple name rec

Perhaps Gateway simply wants to put their product higher up in Mac vs. PC war.
Instead of people thinking…“hmm I need a new computer..maybe a Dell/HP/......or a Mac”

Get people to think .“hmm I need a new computer..maybe a Gateway/Dell/HP/......or a Mac”

maybe they are trying to piggyback off Apple’s PC assualt, realizing full well most PC buyers aren’t “switchers” or even remotely potential switchers, they just want their name paired with something cool innovative and popular.

the point

The New Times published a story on this subject that you all need to read.
It compares the iMac to the Gateway and NEC all in one PCs.

One of the points made is the superior design of the iMac hardware.

Please read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/29/technology/circuits/29STAT.html

“Despite the poor track record of previous all-in-ones, Gateway and NEC have unveiled new models in this appealing niche. Neither approaches the iMac’s beauty or flexibility, but each, in its way, shines new light on the potential of all-in-one flat PC’s.”
-For more on this see: NY Times, STATE OF THE ART
The iMac-Like PC
By DAVID POGUE

MacBurgers and Gateway drugs

Don’t you just love marketing and advertising?
Gateway isn’t “taking on” the iMac or Apple at all.
The campaign is kind of cheeky….piggybacking on Apple’s cachй in a Wintel world. It’s a win-win for Gateway. If they keep one drone from buying an Apple, they win. If they steal a couple of Wintel drones over from Dull and HP keeping the drones from “switching” with a knock-off that is faster than an iMac, they win again.
If Gateway ever does go capter 11 they don’t really die.
It’s like The Blob, Gateway will just assimilate into the great Wintel Blob and keep on Blobbing.

Re: MacBurgers and Gateway drugs

[quote author=“CudaBoy”]Don’t you just love marketing and advertising?
Gateway isn’t “taking on” the iMac or Apple at all.
The campaign is kind of cheeky….piggybacking on Apple’s cachй in a Wintel world. It’s a win-win for Gateway. If they keep one drone from buying an Apple, they win. If they steal a couple of Wintel drones over from Dull and HP keeping the drones from “switching” with a knock-off that is faster than an iMac, they win again.
If Gateway ever does go capter 11 they don’t really die.
It’s like The Blob, Gateway will just assimilate into the great Wintel Blob and keep on Blobbing.

That’s CB’s LA logic on overdrive

Re: MacBurgers and Gateway drugs

[quote author=“DawnTreader”]

That’s CB’s LA logic on overdrive

Oh, so DT, they all talk like that, do they? 

(Hey CB, only kidding, don’t go ballistic!)

coaten, you have to understand the LA dialect and the subtle nuances in the words. Basically CB is saying “The folks at Gateway aren’t so stupid that they would flush a multi-billion dollar company down the toilet, are they? There must be a better reason.”

Please understand that most Californians are environmentalists. We really don’t want the bits and pieces of Gateway showing up in Santa Monica Bay.

Re: MacBurgers and Gateway drugs

[quote author=“coaten”][quote author=“DawnTreader”]

That’s CB’s LA logic on overdrive

Oh, so DT, they all talk like that, do they? 

(Hey CB, only kidding, don’t go ballistic!)

Dammit! It’s that F-1 paddle shift on my Ferrari Modena! My fingers are itchy. 8)  Always Overdrive.
Thanx, I’m gonna go wax the Pinto.    (sorry Curly)

I just did a quick comparison of the financial statements and balance sheet of Apple and Gateway. Apple is roughly 50% larger than Gateway with regard to sales but the balance sheets show the biggest differences between the two companies. Apple has roughly 4 times Gateway’s cash.

I knew Gateway was in tough shape, but the comparison with Apple really brings the point home. Had it not been for Gateway’s recent preferred stock deals that brought in some much needed cash,  the comparison would been even more dramatic.

Apple has nearly 3 times the net tangible assets of Gateway.

[quote author=“DawnTreader”]
Please understand that most Californians are environmentalists. We really don’t want the bits and pieces of Gateway showing up in Santa Monica Bay.

Environmentalists????

This is a bit off-topic, but doesn’t southern CA have the largest car to people number in the world? And 10 lane highways? Isn’t the biggest thread to SF or LA not the next earthquake, but the Friday afternoon traffic?

On topic again, it’s a crappy ad campaign (I saw the ad), it’s a crappy product and it might even scare people away from Gateway if this product has the ‘normal’ Gateway quality. I don’t see this as a threat to Apple and

I’m feeling sorry for Gateway they had to go so low in order to get abigger piece of theWinTel cake . This is sarcasm, I hope you get it.