PC maker banks on untapped computer market

MANILA, Philippines - US-based computer company Gateway has entered the Philippine market and has rolled out new models of desktop, notebook and netbook computers. Gateway, a wholly owned subsidiary of Acer, Inc., is banking on the budding local Internet market to drive demand for its products amid the global slump. The country’s Internet penetration rate is only 14.6%. "The Internet penetration in the country is not yet that mature, which presents opportunities for us. Also, there are still many untapped markets outside Metro Manila," Dio S. Vasquez, product manager of Acer Philippines, said. He said they expect to sell 70% of Gateway computers in Metro Manila and the rest in the provinces. The Gateway ZX2300 desktop computer has side-mounted speakers and a keyboard that can be stowed under the monitor. The model is powered by an AMD Athlon 2650e processor and AMD’s RS690+SB600 chipset. It has up a gigabyte of random access memory (RAM) and a 160-gigabyte hard drive. Gateway also launched two notebooks — the MD260i and MD7802i. The first is powered by an AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core ZM-82 processor, while the second sports an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Both notebooks come with three gigabytes of RAM and 500 gigabytes of storage. Gateway also launched its netbook line — the UC7308i, UC7811i and the LT1001i. The UC7308i is powered by an Intel Dual Core T3400, while the UC7811i comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo T6400. The LT1001i boasts of an Intel Atom N270. Mr. Diaz said Gateway is targeting "trendy, stylish, visual-heavy" youths and professionals. — Jose Bimbo F. Santos, BusinessWorld