Dual-booting Android smartphones are far from common at this point. We have seen some solutions presented, but they are aftermarket and likely only used by the geekier crowd. One dual-boot example includes the MoDaCo.SWITCH which allows HTC One and Galaxy S 4 users to bounce between stock Android and Sense/TouchWiz. Well, if Microsoft has their way, it looks like we may see something with Android and Windows Phone.
Details are coming by way of a recent Bloomberg report, which notes that Terry Myerson of Microsoft approached HTC about just such a device last month. This has yet to be confirmed by anyone within Microsoft and in fact, at this time the report touches on how the source asked not to be identified because the talks are still private. Not to mention, only preliminary at this time.
That being said, there are still some details available. It looks like Myerson has talked about cutting, or even eliminating the license fee to make this a more attractive deal for HTC. With Microsoft currently sitting with just 3.7 percent of the mobile market, this could potentially be a way to increase the user base. Of course, that would mean Android users would have to one, buy this particular phone and two, be willing to boot into and use Windows Phone.
Without bashing Windows Phone, we aren’t sure how many Android users would be willing to make that switch. And going back to this seeming like something that would be attractive only to the geekier users, we suspect that group would also be more loyal to Android. Regardless though, assuming HTC could pull this off and have the handset arrive with decent performance, it may be an option to consider. Especially for those who are mobile curious.
Still, given these talks are coming from an unnamed source and deemed nothing more than preliminary at this point, those specifics have yet to be discussed. Basically, that would bring the question as to which operating system was primary and which would take the back seat. Given where Android currently stands as compared to Windows Phone, it seems likely that HTC would focus on Android first, that is, unless Microsoft really presented a solid deal.
RUMORS!!!
I don’t see how this would work or what’s the purpose??
Who really needs to phone OS’s?
Its like one booting into garbage and two booting into a real Mobile OS. Whats the point?
Android rules.