Pressure from both Google and Microsoft apparently to blame
ASUS proudly showed off its new Transformer Book Duet TD300 at CES in January, but a new report suggests the Android/Windows 8 hybrid laptop/tablet has been cancelled. The Wall Street Journal claims that pressure from both Google and Microsoft has caused the project to be “indefinitely delayed.”
But the software companies have ways to exert pressure to deter the propagation of dual-OS products, people familiar with the situation say.
It will also come as a blow to Intel, a partner of ASUS in its Android devices, who perhaps saw devices like the Duet as a way to help boost ailing PC sales.
Microsoft reportedly doesn’t want to share device space with Google, and Google could choose not to certify the device because it isn’t ‘all Android.’ It wouldn’t be the first hybrid we’ve seen fade into nothingness, either. Remember Samsung’s effort with the Ativ Q announced in London last year?
The Duet was a pretty clever device; a proper quad-mode with both Android and Windows laptops and Android and Windows tablets all in one package.
So, for reasons out of ASUS’ control we may never get to see the Duet on store shelves. To see what we’re missing out on, be sure to check out our – possibly only ever – hands on with it from Las Vegas at the start of the year. We’ve reached out to ASUS for comment, and we’ll update if we hear more.
Source: Wall Street Journal