Asus E600 DOA – Still a Chance for an Asus Phone

Asus is again pondering whether or not they should come out with a Windows Phone 7 device. Asus says that they were ready to be a launch partner well before the launch itself but untested WP7 software and strained resources were the reason they backed off.

'Asus held back, says Benson Lin, Asus’ corporate vice president and the general manager of its mobile devices unit, because of strained resources and lingering questions about Microsoft’s then-untested software. “We came up with a first-generation product on Windows Phone 7 that we could have gone to market with,” said Lin in an interview at Mobile World Congress, a big telecom trade show. “We were ready.”

So ready, in fact, that in 2009 Asus produced a batch of its Windows Phone 7 device for sale. None of the handsets were used, however, except by Microsoft engineers. As the 2010 Windows Phone 7 launch neared, Asus realized it “didn’t have the bandwidth” to support a new cellphone initiative and the level of carrier support it would demand, says Lin.'

Being that Mobile Asus handsets are almost non-existant in North America. I think that the best chance for them was to come out when there wasn't that many WP7 handsets to choose from. Now that Nokia has joined the party and looks to provide flagship phones on different pricing levels. Asus might have let the perfect opportunity slip away.

Source: Forbes