Intel stands out as the biggest loser if Asus cancels dual Windows-Android devices owing to operating systems makers’ objections.

Asus’s introduction of the Transformer Book Duet TD300 on the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year was a huge deal. Brian Krzanich, Intel’s CEO, joined Asus on stage and helped exhibit the convertible, a dual-boot machine that can run both Microsoft’s Windows and Google’s Android operating systems. Asus envisioned it’d be a piece machine by day and a private media device by night. Two months later, it seems that the product has become the victim of disapproval from both OS giants.

Asus has “indefinitely postponed” plans to sell the device, in step with sources cited by The Wall Street Journal. The postponement comes after Microsoft and Google made clear to Asus their feelings about this kind of device. It’s no surprise that every platform maker wants devices to run just one platform. There isn’t any incentive for Google or Microsoft to permit the other’s OS to coexist at the same machine.

Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, explained there are several ways that Google and Microsoft can put pressure on their hardware partners. Android can be free to make use of, but on the way to access Google Services — the Play Store and vital apps akin to Gmail, Maps, and YouTube — hardware makers ought to comply with certain restrictions. Google can withhold Play Services if it doesn’t just like the device, which might all but negate the appeal of the Android OS. Similarly, Microsoft can withhold marketing money if it’s not happy with what hardware makers do with their gear. Marketing cash is especially important to OEMs that make low-margin hardware.

[Microsoft is concerned to get more OEMs on its side. Will Microsoft Waive Windows Phone Fees?]

Google declined to touch upon the Journal’s story, but Microsoft said it “will continue to invest with OEMs to promote best-in-class OEM and Microsoft experiences to our joint customers.”

The revelation raises questions about Huawei’s plans to offer a dual-boot smartphone that runs both Android and Microsoft’s Windows Phone. The company confirmed the plans this week, and said it could sell the smartphone within the US later this year. Will the product even make it to market, though? Will Google and Microsoft exert the identical pressure on Huawei that they (apparently) exerted on Asus?

While Asus and Huawei are staring lost R&D dollars within the face, Intel is the largest loser here. It engineered processors which are in a position to running two operating systems, and these chips were to play a vital role within the dual-boot machines in question. Intel is desirous to gain a major toehold inside the smartphone and tablet space, but is wrongly trailing competitors corresponding to Qualcomm, Samsung, and others. If there’s something dual-boot machines offer, it’s differentiation. Intel was counting (perhaps an excessive amount of) on such differentiation to sell devices with its chips inside.

There’s also the question of demand for such machines. Are consumers and enterprises actually clamoring for machines that run two operating systems, or are hardware makers foisting them in the marketplace within the hope of constructing a gap? What is the real benefit? It may boil all the way down to apps. The selection of apps available to Android devices is greater than 1 million. Can Microsoft claim the similar about Windows 8?

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Eric is a contract writer for InformationWeek that specialize in mobile technologies. View Full Bio

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