In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, corporate vice president of mobile communication products at Asus, Benson Lin has revealed that the company is indeed considering Windows Phone. Unfortunately the employee also noted that such hardware has no timeline on when they'll be released to consumers. For Asus to be building Windows Phones would further add to the foundations of the platform.
The company has also put forward its "Padfone" concept for Windows. This would see an Asus Windows Phone 'dock' into a tablet device, but continuing to utilise the mobile operating system in favour of Windows RT. This unique approach would provide consumers access to not only a smartphone, but a tablet with a slight twist.
Currently Asus already has a Padfone in the market, running Android. We've already seen accessories from the like of Nokia that enable consumers dock their Windows Phones on charging stands, as well as third-party offerings and DIY projects. But to see a smartphone being able to power a tablet would be pretty special indeed.
Thanks to the closer unity between Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, this provides more room for the OEM partner to wiggle. A future Windows update, codenamed "Windows Blue" is expected to push harder on integration and lessen the restrictions surrounding form factors running each version of Windows, as well as implementing a more frequent release cycle.
It'll be interesting to see how Asus advances from here on out. Will we see both devices released simultaneously, or will they launch the Windows Phone smartphone prior to the tablet and note how much demand is present? Either way, it's good news for the Windows Phone platform. More partners climbing on-board can only mean it has a future which the manufacturers would like a part of.
Source: Wall Street Journal, via: The Verge
