Gateway promises 24-hour Xmas delivery for us customers

Gateway has promised all direct customers in the US who order a PC over the holiday period and before 23 December, a delivery before Christmas day. If the machine fails to reach its destination, the PC manufacturer will not charge $99 for shipping and handling.

Philip Williams, business development manager at the UK's leading reseller, ComputaCenter, said if sufficient capacity is in place, then a PC can be built quickly. "If you have a build-to-order model, then it could work," said Williams.

But Williams thinks it may not be so good for business. He said: "Corporate customers need the product the same day. This is possible if orders are placed before lunchtime but not possible on a build-to-order basis".

But Clive Longbottom, analyst at Strategy Partners said anyone looking to buy a PC for Christmas would have done so by 23 December. "Seems like a guarded gamble," said Longbottom adding, "considering it takes five days to turn around a normal order, there's no way they could fulfill a massive amount of orders".

Last-minute buyers can select from one of Gateway's all-in-one Astro models from three of its Essential range of computers or the Solo 9300 CS notebook. All desktops also come with a free Hewlett-Packard (HP) printer.

Gateway was unavailable for comment.