(Pocket-lint) - The Asus Padfone gives people a device that can change from a phone to a tablet, and even into a laptop, but who will want to buy it? Asus believes it knows exactly:

"There is a massive segment of the market called the "tablet hesitater" and those guys aren't buying our tablets," it said during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

"And they aren't buying iPads or Samsung tablets because they haven't got it yet - they don't want the double expense and they don't want to feel they are being fleeced by the operator on two contacts.There is a whole raft of reasons. What our solution does is try to answer the reasons for that tablet hesitater to get them involved."

Speaking exclusively to Pocket-lint, Benson Lin, global head of the company's handheld division, added: "If you have two devices, that is perfect, but how many people own a smartphone and tablet? And how many people one smartphone and no tablet?"

It's a question that many manufacturers have been trying to solve, with only Apple, Asus and Samsung getting results.

"They want one but they haven't bought a tablet. In a recent survey, we found that 55 per cent of people who own a smartphone want a tablet, but only 13 per cent of them actually have one," he said.

According to Asus, the company carried out the same survey in different countries and got virtually the same results each time.

"That's 42 per cent of smartphone users who want a tablet but haven't bought one yet. We then asked those people, 'Why?'," continued Lin.

"Many said they didn't want to pay the extra money for it or the extra data plan. We have done a lot of surveying and we think that is what people want. We are always trying to solve a problem."

The Asus Padfone is expected to go on sale in the UK either as a bundle or separately some time before the end of June.

Writing by Stuart Miles.