Time heals all wounds? Not if you’re the Packard Bell brand in America.
At the Acer dog and pony show today, the company’s execs went on and on about how its goal of using its three brands—Acer, Gateway and Packard Bell (they said little about eMachines)—makes total sense. Acer for the more high-end computers, and Gateway and Packard Bell for the more entry-level computers. Several folks in the audience wanted to know if Acer had any plans to re-introduce the Packard Bell brand to the U.S. That’s a no, chief. You may already be aware of this, but the Packard Bell name took such a beating in the U.S. before it was ultimately phased out that many retailers want nothing to do with it anymore. With no shelf space available, and something of a besmirched reputation, Acer said that Packbard Bell will remain an European/Asian brand for the foreseeable future. The US of A is decidedly Gateway country. This is the part where I say Packard Bell was my first computer back in 1996, and that it ran AOL and nick.com quite well, indeed. It was eventually replaced with a Compaq 5030. We had no problems with the Packard Bell, so I guess my family’s experience was a rare one.
