Gateway's Chief Insists the PC Yield to a Digital Future

Gateway's Chief Insists the PC Yield to a Digital Future "Paradoxically, Mr. Waitt is betting that the costly retail network that helped bring Gateway to its knees will ultimately prove its salvation. The remodeling of the remaining stores — the company withdrew from overseas markets and has mothballed 148 stores in the United States since 2000 — is Mr. Waitt's third new business strategy in as many years. Since retaking the post of chief executive early in 2001, he has toiled over a number of revampings to nurse Gateway back to health. Now, he is running out of options.
'I think the company has gone through an identity crisis,' Mr. Waitt said in an interview at company headquarters in Poway, a San Diego suburb. 'We are fundamentally changing the business. Our PC is still an important part, but it's a PC and other integrated product lines, rather than a PC with a bunch of stuff sold around it.'"