Back in August 2007, Acer bought Gateway.  Three years earlier, Gateway purchased discount PC manufacturer eMachines.  This gives Acer control of three powerhouse brands that have a lot of recognition in retail stores around the country and around the world.

With Acer looking to ship between 12 – 15 million netbooks we should expect to see netbooks from the Gateway and eMachines name.  Similar to the Compaq/HP strategy, Acer can align the brands to meet different segments of the market with Acer continuing to be the mainline consumer brand with Gateway possibly being the higher end and eMachines addressing the lower end.

This allows Acer to combat the new products from Asus like the new 1002HA and S101.  2009 should be real interesting as netbook manufacturers look to add 3G, GPS, and dual core processors.

1. EC14D07u Gateway Netbook Adds DVD Drive

2. Acer Looking To Dominate PC Sales

3. Wall Street Wishes Dell Would Buy Acer

4. Rumor: Acer Pulling The Plug On eMachines Netbooks

5. Acer To Leverage eMachines Brand To Flood Market With Cheap Netbooks