Asus Entering US Smartphone Market - What Niche Will It Find?

According to recent reports, electronics maker Asus is looking to make its way to the U.S. smartphone market sometime next year. But with two companies already dominating the top slot, when 2014 comes, where will Asus find its niche?

News of the tentative plans by Asus to enter the U.S. smartphone race sometime in 2014 hit the web when AllThingsD parsed through Asus Chairman Jonney Shih's interview about the highly anticipated Nexus 7 and found this nugget:

"For the phone, frankly speaking, we are still latecomers," said Shih to AllThingsD. "We are making progress," he said, later adding that as far as their own smartphone release in the U.S. is concerned, "I think next year is more reasonable."

Shih also said in that interview that the company has been slowly building relationships with various carriers and retailers in the U.S. that Asus will need in order to successfully compete in the crowded marketplace. Currently, Samsung and Apple dominate the U.S. market, while other big smartphone makers and long-running electronics companies like Motorola, LG, Nokia, Sony, and, now, HTC having a hard time finding success.

Besides being known for being Google's go-to OEM for the Nexus 7, Asus may have a trick up its sleeve that may help it find a comfortable niche: It's comfortable designing relatively odd-ball hybrids.

Asus has been designing plenty of its own hybrid devices for a while now. Most recently, the Asus Transformer Book Trio was introduced, which has two operating systems - Windows and Android - two internal storage solutions, two batteries, and two processors. It transforms from a laptop to a tablet (without the keyboard dock) and into a desktop when you take the keyboard dock and plug it into a display.

Another product from Asus is closer to smartphone territory - the PadFone lineup. The PadFone is a smartphone that slides right into the back of a tablet screen, which gives it more battery and effectively turns it into a tablet. 

What do these have to do with smartphones? Right now, the computer and electronics industry is in an awkward transition, where customers want more tablet functionality out of their smartphones (along with more laptop functionality out of their tablets - and no one wants a desktop). Most big brands are hoping that simply making a screen that is between the size of the smartphone and the tablet - a.k.a., phablets - will do the trick. Hence the Samsung Galaxy Mega and new Note 3, the Xperia Z Ultra, and the rumored HTC One Max, all either on the way or suspected to be.  

Asus is already used to designing to bridge the gap between laptop and tablet, tablet and smartphone, and they do it in a unique way. If Asus can find a way to make a hybrid, or system of hybrids, that fills the niche better than any other company has so far, they just might have a chance of making it in the U.S. market. Otherwise, they will just be another high-quality electronics brand added to the runners-up list.