VMware Wants to Bring Virtualization to Smart Phones - BUT where are the use-cases

eWeek.com reports that VMware is going to release a virtualization platform for mobile phones, but gives no real use-case for such a platform. Later in this article they talk about the use-case of creating different profiles in different VMs; isn't that possible today using different profiles on a Windows based operating system, why would anybody create a separate virtual machine to create a different profile? I could imagine (hypothetically speaking) running an iPhone inside a RIM phone, or running an S60 app inside an iPhone - but is that a real use case.

Here are parts of the article:

"VMware is looking to bring its virtualization technology to smart phones and cell phones in 2009 through a new virtualization platform called the VMware Mobile Virtualization Platform, or MVP. The platform will use a small-footprint hypervisor that will allow users to have multiple virtual machines on their smart phones in the same way a desktop or notebook can host different virtual environments. Mobile Virtualization Platform, or MVP, which consists of a small, bare-metal hypervisor— 20KB to 30KB —that will work with a number of mobile devices based on an ARM processor.

“This virtualization layer that we have is just like the one on the server and desktops, and it will allow customers to run multiple virtual environments on the phone,” said Krishnamurti. “We think there are some interesting use cases. One is that many people have one phone for work and another is a personal phone. With virtualization, you can have one device that runs both environments in two isolated virtual machines. The work profile and the personal profile are completely separated.”

Right now, the VMware MVP platform will support a number of mobile devices based on Linux, Windows CE and Symbian, which is now owned by Nokia. Later, Krishnamurti said, VMware will add support for Google’s Android operating system."

Mobile Bliss

I was reading a post by Fred Wilson on AVC.

From today's front page story in the New York Times about Google's $4.6bn wireless bid.

In the Internet giant’s view of the future, consumers would buy a wireless phone at a store, but instead of being forced to use a specific carrier, they would be free to pick any carrier they wanted. Instead of wireless carriers choosing what software goes on their phones, users would be free to put any software they want on them.

Hell yeah! This is the way it must be. Open devices, open services, open spectrum.

What would be really cool is if Google paid $4.6bn for the spectrum and then opened it up for the world to use as we see fit, just like Facebook opened up their platform.

The good part is that we already have this in India. It's strange that we don't realize the importance of things that come free to us - I can go any buy a phone, choose whatever carrier I want, and put whatever software on that, TODAY!