Content area
Full text
When a computer company executive appears in his own commercials talking with a cow, you know that times are desperate.
Ted Waitt, CEO and chairman of Gateway Inc., of San Diego, is starring as his company's own TV pitchman in a new series of spots promoting Gateway desktop computers equipped with the new Microsoft Windows XP operating system.
In a season where recession, terrorist attacks and retaliatory bombing have dampened the economy, corporate financial reports for the third quarter are not expected to look good as they emerge in coming days. War worries are expected to further chill fourth-quarter spending by businesses on new servers and other computer hardware.
Meanwhile, in the consumer market, computermakers such as Gateway are looking to the new XP operating system and an Intel Pentium 4 chip as enticements to boost sluggish sales, particularly during the upcoming holiday shopping season. The official launch of Windows XP is Oct. 25.
"That's what we're hoping for," says Gateway spokesman Greg Lund.
Gateway expressed cautious optimism that it could return to profitability in the fourth quarter, before taxes, though it announced reduced expectations for the third quarter ended Sept. 30. Gateway predicts it will lose 14 cents to 17 cents a share - not the 4 cents forecast by analysts - when third-quarter results are announced...