Dual-boot smartphones are getting more and more popular, and now that Huawei announced that it will launch one in the US this spring, things will surely pick up some speed.
Still, the road the Chinese company is taking does not involve running Firefox OS or any of the new exotic mobile operating systems alongside Android. Instead, it will be Windows Phone 8 that will run on the dual-boot smartphone.
In an interview with TrustedReviews.com, Shao Yang, Huawei’s Chief Marketing Officer stated that “We are still committed to making Windows Phone devices,” thus reassuring the company’s consumers that they are not leaving this market aside. However, Yang emphasized the fact that Microsoft’s operating system for mobile devices will always end up second, as the company’s Android devices represent the top priority. As Yang explained, “Compared with Android, the priority of Windows Phone is much lower but is still one of our choices of OS. We are definitely using a multi OS strategy.”
Even though it might look like a compromise, offering two operating system on the same mobile device enables users to get the best of both worlds: “With Windows Phone, one direction for us – and one that we are now following – is dual OS. Dual OS as in Android and Windows together.”
Yang admitted that offering only Microsoft’s OS could make people reluctant: “If it is Windows only, maybe people will not find it as easy a decision to buy the phone. If they have the Android and Windows together, you can change it as you wish and it is much easier for people to choose Windows Phone. We think the dual OS can be a new choice for the consumer. It will be on sale in the US in Q2.”
Furthermore, Yang suggested that making devices that boot into Android and an OS other than WP8 is also a possibility, in the future: “We are definitely looking at other platforms. For any new operating system we are open to. We need to watch every OS. I think on this partner (Tizen) we are not very clear.”
Coming from the world’s third largest smartphone manufacturer, the news of having Android delivered with a variety of other operating systems is definitely exciting. Hopefully, the dual-boot smartphones won’t have mediocre specs, as such devices typically tend to.
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