Gateway 2000 Inc, a direct marketer of personal computers, on Wednesday unveiled a low-cost network PC, the first step in its plan to capture a greater share of the corporate PC market.
Gateways E-1000 computer is specifically designed to provide customers with a PC that lowers their total costs of ownership, the company said.
The standard system includes a 166MHz Pentium processor, 16 megabytes of memory, a 1.2 gigabyte hard disk drive and a the capability to be networked to other PCs.
Gateway said an E-1000 PC with a monitor starts at $1,249, although prices may vary depending on quantity. Large quantity orders for PCs without monitors are priced at below $900. Gateway expects to ship the E-1000 in July.
Direct marketers like Gateway build PC systems as they are ordered by customers to their specific configurations. They also ship the products to customers, eliminating corporate resellers, distributors and retailers, and have lower costs.
Gateway also said it will double by years end its sales force to about 800 people to address the corporate market.
(The sales staff) is on its way to roughly 800 to support corporate customers, said Ted Waitt, chairman and CEO of Gateway, at a press conference.
