Huawei backtracks, won't release a dual-OS Android, Windows Phone smartphone

Huawei said it has no plans to release a dual-OS smartphone running Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone and Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android, contradicting earlier statements from a Huawei executive.

"Huawei Consumer Business Group adopts an open approach towards mobile operating systems to provide a range of choices for consumers," the company said in a statement to FierceWireless. "However, most of our products are based on Android OS, [and] at this stage there are no plans to launch a dual-OS smartphone in the near future."

The statement is at odds with comments made by Huawei device CMO Shao Yang. "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," the Huawei executive told Trusted Reviews.

He had added: "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," he said. "It will be on sale in the U.S. in Q2."

A Huawei spokeswoman said the company's plans have changed since Yang made the comments to Trusted Reviews at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona in late February.

Huawei said in its statement that it would continue to work with Microsoft. "Microsoft is still a key global partner of Huawei Consumer Business Group," the company said. "As long as the consumers continue to demand Windows, we will continue to supply them." Huawei plans to release new Windows Phones in 2014.

Huawei's about-face is notable in light of a recent report from the Wall Street Journal that, after facing pressure from Google and Microsoft, Asustek scrapped plans to sell a high-end device designed to run Android and Windows 8.1. 

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