Founded in 1985 in an Iowa farmhouse, Gateway has grown into one of America's best known brands with millions of satisfied customers. Starting with a $10,000 loan guaranteed by his grandmother, a rented computer and a three-page business plan, Ted Waitt turned Gateway into a revolutionary company whose innovations helped shape the technology industry.

The company — previously called Gateway 2000 — received national acclaim in 1991 when it introduced its distinctive cow-spotted boxes, a tribute to its farm heritage. In 1993, it cracked the Fortune 500 and went public, trading on the NASDAQ before moving its stock to the New York Stock Exchange in 1997. The following year, Gateway shifted its head office from North Sioux City, South Dakota, to the San Diego area.

Gateway's evolution has taken it from a PC maker to a Branded Integrator with a growing range of its own products and services, such as thin TVs, digital cameras, camcorders and systems and networking products. But the company's basic principles remain the same.

Gateway's early value proposition is similar to that of today and an outgrowth of Mr. Waitt's own predisposition to plain talk and fair dealing. It is based on offering products directly to the customer, providing them with the best value for money and unparalleled service and support.

Gateway has always been devoted to treating customers with respect and decency, and it consistently ranks among the industry's top companies in customer loyalty, an accomplishment the company and its people prize highly. Its early tagline, "You've got a friend in the business," continues in spirit, as the company's more than 8,000 people help deliver service and support through call centers, nearly 200 retail stores and an award-winning Web site.

Gateway, since its earliest days, has pioneered numerous industry trends and practices. It was the first PC company to offer systems with color monitors as standard, the first to offer a standard three-year warranty and the first to commercially explore convergence of the PC and television. It was one of the nation's early "bricks and clicks" retailers, and it was among the first direct retailers to sell its own branded consumer electronics with the launch of the highly successful Gateway® Plasma TV.

As Gateway pushes into new frontiers with a growing range of video and digital consumer electronics goods, it remains dedicated to its original objective of helping people improve their lives through technology.