Asus has revealed that the company is considering future smartphones running on Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Benson Lin, corporate vice president of mobile communication products at Asus, says the firm is "interested in making Windows Phones," but there's no timeline on when they'll be released.

Asus appears to be considering its Padfone concept for Windows too. "I think it makes sense for Windows 8," says Lin. At present, manufacturers have to choose between Windows Phone or Windows 8 on smartphones and tablets respectively, making it difficult to create a Padfone running on Windows. The unique Padfone product works as a smartphone that then docks into the back of a tablet, turning the entire device into a tablet running from the smartphone hardware and OS.

Microsoft's specifications for Windows Phone and Windows 8 are fairly strict, meaning we haven't seen 7- or 10-inch Windows Phone devices, nor are there 4- or 5-inch Windows 8 machines. That might be about to change with an update codenamed Windows Blue. The new OS is said to be focused on bringing Windows 8 down to smaller screen sizes and creating more interoperability between Windows 8 and Windows Phone. Windows Blue is on course to ship mid-2013.