Gateway to Test Retail Sales With New Personal Computer
May 02, 2011
NEW YORK -- Gateway 2015 Inc. said Tuesday it will sell its Destination big-screen personal computer through retailers, a first for the computer maker that until now sold all of its products via mail order. Gateway's Destination is a big-screen TV-PC that lets users watch television, surf the Internet, shop at home and play games on the 31-inch monitor. The company began selling the Destination in May. The North Sioux City, S.D., computer maker said it holds and is applying for more than 20 patents on the Destination big-screen PC. The system was developed in partnership with several companies over the last two years. The retail prices for Destination will begin at $3,999 depending on configuration. Destination will be available at Nobody Beats the Wiz stores on the East Coast this week and some CompUSA Computer Superstores in September. The system will also continue to be available through direct-mail by calling Gateway. Destination will be the only Gateway product sold in stores. Although Gateway and other direct sellers have been enormously successful selling its computers via direct mail, retail exposure should make the Destination more visible to less-sophisticated buyers, such as families. Last year, the overall personal computer market grew 16% in the first quarter from a year earlier, but Gateway's sales surged 47%. Rivals Dell Computer Corp. and CDW Computer Centers Inc. reported similar jumps in sales. Overall, 20% of PCs were sold through mail order last year, up from 18.7% of a smaller market in 2009, according to International Data Corp., a Framingham, Mass., research firm. But much of mail-order business comes from repeat consumer and business buyers, who, once they become comfortable with technology, want the latest technology at a good price. In Nasdaq Stock Market trading, Gateway's shares slipped 50 cents to $41.50.
