ASUS Transformer Book Duet Might Be Killed Due To Pressure From Google [Rumor]

Earlier this year at CES 2014, ASUS took the wraps off a very interesting hybrid device, and by hybrid we’re not talking about a laptop that doubles as a tablet. By hybrid we mean a laptop that double as a tablet that runs both Android and Windows at the same time. This came in the form of the ASUS Transformer Book Duet and was a pretty interesting device to say the least. Now given that Google and Microsoft are rivals, we can’t say that Google or Microsoft might have been too pleased to have both operating systems offered in the same device, and now according to a report from DigiTimes, it has been suggested that Google could be pressuring ASUS into never launching the device.

DigiTimes cites an article from China’s Economic Daily News in which it was revealed that Google had been resisting ASUS’s attempts to release the device, which ultimately might see ASUS forgo the device entirely. The semi-good news is that this might not affect ASUS too greatly as the project has not yet been fully implemented, so the financial losses to ASUS will not be too high, assuming that the rumors are true, of course. Naturally ASUS declined to comment on the matter, making us wonder how true these allegations are. If this is true, it won’t be the first time that Google has strong-armed one of their partners into doing what Google wants them to do. We had recently heard how Google had managed to get Samsung to agree to cut back on their modifications to the Android operating system.

We’re not sure why Google might want to kill the ASUS Transformer Book Duet. Could it be that by dual-booting Android and Windows might result in a less than ideal Android experience? Or could it be that Google simply does not want to share the same hardware as Windows? In any case it is just a rumor for now, but what do you guys think?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Computers, Rumors
Tags: Android, Asus, Google