Asus choosing between Chrome and Android

Jonney Shih, Asus' chairman, said in an interview on Wednesday that the manufacturer was still not sure how many people would sacrifice the application compatibility advantages of Windows and Intel for a lower-cost subnotebook running a Linux-based OS on an ARM chipset. He also said Asus was working on a tablet or slate device.

"With the current Wintel-based Eee PC, the advantage is you still enjoy the [application] compatibility," Shih said. "The smartbook is usually based on ARM — then you will have some advantage in the cost. This will further push the original direction of the netbook."

Shih said Asus — the manufacturer that kicked off the netbook phenomenon with the first Eee PC in 2007 — was "still not 100 percent sure" what proportion of its customers would go for a smartbook over a Windows netbook, adding that other considerations in putting out a smartbook included the choice between Google's two operating systems, Android and Chrome OS.

For more, read "Asus weighing up Chrome versus Android " on ZDNet UK.