CES 2014 turned out to be a pretty exciting time for ASUS fans. The company revealed a new device called the Transformer Book Duet TD300, and aside from the fact that this is a hybrid tablet/notebook, its most notable feature is its dual OS capabilities. ASUS told us that the TD300 would be running Android and Windows out of the box, which has a lot of exciting implications for folks who like using both OSes. Unfortunately, according to a new report from Chinese paper The Economic Daily News (as reported by DigiTimes), the TD300 may never see the light of day.
The paper claims that Google put pressure on ASUS to discontinue development of the device, but doesn’t state why. If that’s true, it isn’t exactly difficult to fill in the blanks. It wouldn’t be much of a shocker to hear that Google doesn’t want Android running alongside other operating systems, and as a result asked ASUS to halt development. As with all rumors, you should take this news with a grain of salt, but sadly official confirmation of the TD300’s discontinuation may not be coming any time soon – ASUS refused to comment on the speculation when approached by The Economic Daily News.
If this report turns out to be correct, it’s sad news indeed. New hybrid devices are always cool to see, and one that’s running both Windows and Android would be very interesting indeed. ASUS said users would be able to switch between Windows and Android in four seconds using the company’s Instant Switch Technology. Prospective buyers were told they’d be able to outfit their Transformer Book Duet with an Intel Core i5 processor and 1080p display, though the base model came equipped with a Core i3 and a 1366×768 display.
While we never received a solid launch date for the Transformer Book Duet, ASUS apparently had plans to begin marketing pushes for the device in Asia in Europe this quarter. Marketing was set to begin in North America in Q2 2014, which suggests that launches across the world were scheduled to go down in a relatively short window of time. That may not be the case anymore, so let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope that details which are a little more concrete surface soon. Stay tuned.