The Acer Guy

OK. Here’s a twist on my 9 to 5…

Before any of you post this to Engadget or Digg this is all hypothetical. Sort of.

As many of you know, this year Acer bought a bunch of amazing companies. Gateway, Packard Bell and the one they haven’t yet used, E-Ten.

Do your homework and you soon discover that E-Ten is also known as Glofiish, manufacturers of some pretty smart phones and handheld devices.

Now let’s just say - hypothetically - that the next big (read “interesting”) thing from Acer is a new smartphone. What would you call it?

That’s right. You.

I’m inviting you guys to submit names for some product I have no idea will ever be produced. Actually that’s not true because if they never make something why did they buy the company?

Anyway, if and when we’re asked to come up with a name (unlike the Aspire One) I’ll submit the best suggestion to the marketing management as part of my presentation. At that point it’s up to chance (and persuasion) but think how cool it would be if the name came from the people most interested in buying it.

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For anyone interested in what’s going to happen over at Gateway (and Packard Bell) now that both have been bought by Acer, there’s a pretty good interview with JT Wang, Acer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer over at Business Week.

Apart from discussing the pros and cons of the deal, the long-term strategy and the money involved, the interview also talks about the future of Gateway under the Acer umbrella and, more importantly, the future of its employees.

JT Wang said

“Gateway has good awareness, good positioning, but people consider this a company with no future. They have a team of good people who have been hanging on for many years, even with no financial support or resources. So we said there is something valuable inside. We want to keep the business. The synergies calculated don’t include laying off people.”

My first notebook was a Gateway. It had a 13″ screen back in 1995 so you can imagine how much I paid and how attached I became to it.

Personally, I’m thrilled to be linked with the company that allowed me to develop the skills I use on a daily basis today, and am delighted to hear that it will come out of this bigger and better than before.

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