Microsoft and Google have been viewed as wanting to co-exist on mobile platforms peacefully — since last year, the idea of dual-booting smartphones has already cropped up. Furthermore, Nokia — whose device business Microsoft is in the process of acquiring – recently unveiled the Nokia X family of devices that run an operating system based on Android. However, the same can’t be said for PCs.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Taiwanese PC maker Asus is facing pressure from both Google and Microsoft, and has indefinitely postponed plans to sell its Transformer Book Duet TD300, a laptop and tablet convertible that runs both Windows and Android software. In its announcement for the device, Asus said that it “allows users to switch between Windows and Android in either laptop or tablet modes with just a single push of the Instant Switch button or a virtual key on the tablet.”
The WSJ also says it obtained an internal Asus memo that said the company will stop selling the dual-OS Transformer AiO P1801 and P1802 all-in-one PCs launched last year, because of Microsoft’s “new policy” of not supporting such dual-OS products.
If Microsoft and Google are really going all out to prevent such dual-OS laptops and tablets from being launched on the market, it could impact Intel too, which previously confirmed it would power devices that run both Windows and Android.
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➤ Asustek’s Dual-OS Devices Hit a Wall [Wall Street Journal]
Image via Asus, thumbnail image via Mandy Cheng/AFP/Getty Images
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