An Asus exec has revealed to the Wall Street Journal that his company is "in talks" with Microsoft to license Windows Phone 8. Talk is cheap, of course, but at this point WP8 is much in need of friends and it's interesting to contemplate what Asus might do with the OS, given that manufacturer's penchant for quirky form factors. Speaking of which, the same executive -- VP Benson Lin -- brought up the notion of a PadFone-style modular device based on Windows:

"With our Padfone concept, the phone plus tablet, I think it makes sense for Windows 8"

What doesn't make sense is how such a thing could work. The Android-based PadFone employs the exact same OS regardless of whether it's in phone or tablet mode, but no version of Windows (whether WP8, RT or the regular "8") currently allows that sort of flexibility with screen size. Lin may know something about the future of Windows that we don't, or he may just be throwing out abstract ideas about some sort of dual-OS device -- after all, he admitted that there is "no target timeline" for any of this.

In the shorter term, Lin also said that Asus is talking to US carriers in the hope of bringing its wares to the States by 2014, which could mean that a PadFone 3 -- if there ever is one -- may be more than just a remote curiosity or an Expansys special.