GO developed the
PenPoint OS software, and an
Intel 286-based lightweight "Go Computer" specifically for developers and evaluators; the company emphasized end users would run PenPoint OS on third-party hardware. PenPoint OS ran on a number of
Intel x86-powered
tablet PCs from
IBM (the first use of the "
ThinkPad" brand name), NCR, and others, and on AT&T's
EO Personal Communicator. The company enjoyed high levels of public awareness and generally positive attention from industry press, but it ran into fierce competition, first from Microsoft (whose
Pen Services for Windows were later the subject of an
FTC investigation and patent violation suits by GO), and later from Apple's
Newton project, and others. The company lined up software development partners but struggled to deliver the hardware and software on their intended schedule. In 1991, they spun off their hardware unit under the name
EO Inc. In 1993 EO was acquired by
AT&T Corporation, who hoped that its devices would showcase their
AT&T Hobbit microprocessors. This sale raised much-needed cash but introduced new problems, as EO then ceased to coordinate well with GO's management, even considering adopting competing operating systems. Facing a cash crisis, GO agreed to sell itself to AT&T as well, bringing the two halves of the company back under one roof as of January 1994. Despite some success in
vertical markets, consumers in the 1990s did not adopt tablet computing as enthusiastically as GO management had expected. In January 1994, only two weeks after acquiring GO, AT&T decided to cancel the Hobbit product line, leaving it no reason to continue to support EO or GO. They had by then ceased to develop for other chips, and sales on the other platforms were small anyway. Co-founder
Jerry Kaplan says that in its lifetime, the company generated "no meaningful sales". The loss of AT&T's support left GO with little chance of future revenue and, after burning through $75 million of
venture funding, the company closed in July 1994. ==Lawsuits==