Gateway plans to announce Monday that its desktops will soon be selling on CompUSA"s shelves.
The deal comes after pacts with Best Buy and Best Buy Canada and is part of the company"s plan to evolve beyond its direct roots after its merger with eMachines. Earlier this year, Gateway closed its network of 188 retail stores. "This represents another significant step forward in ensuring that the Gateway brand is widely available at the retail outlets where our customers shop," Gateway CEO Wayne Inouye said in a statement.
The arrival of Gateway at major stores provides additional competition for Hewlett-Packard, which had become the undisputed king of retail PCs after it acquired Compaq Computer in May 2002. HP has managed to make its PC line profitable, but is still experiencing slower sales growth than rival Dell.