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Is Platform Virtualization The Next Big Leap In Mobile?

Motorola recently announced an investment in VirtualLogix, a company that lets multiple operating systems run on the same piece of hardware. This means you could have a single phone in your pocket that runs Windows Mobile, the BlackBerry OS, and Google's Android OS.

Because I subscribe to AT&T, I take full advantage of the portability of my account from one phone to the next. I constantly move my SIM card from phone to phone in an attempt to have the best platform/hardware available to me for any given situation. There are times when I am interested in using Windows Mobile, other times when I want to use the iPhone, and yet other instances when Nokia's S60 is the best choice. Truly, this is a pain in the rear.

While popping a SIM card out and switching it into another phone takes mere seconds, it would be great if I could stick to one hardware platform yet still be able to take advantage of the pros of several different mobile operating systems. This is what, in theory, VirtualLogix will allow you to do.

VirtualLogix is a provider of real-time virtualization. Its technology enables the mobility of applications from the desktop to devices, improves quality of service and security in an open mobile world, and will enable a new generation of dynamic individual user experiences. Motorola and others believe in the technology and decided it was worth investing in.

"As the mobile eco-system grows increasingly complex, demand for simplified product designs that allow dynamic mobile experiences to run across multiple platforms will intensify," said Reese Schroeder, managing director of Motorola Ventures, in a prepared statement. "Virtualization offers a solution to this complexity. Our investment in VirtualLogix will help accelerate the delivery of their technology to next-generation communications devices and infrastructure equipment."

BusinessWeek put it succinctly:

Currently, programmers have to rewrite every application -- be it a game, social networking service, or other feature -- for each of the various operating systems, including Symbian, Microsoft's Windows Mobile, or Google's Android. The tinkering can take months. But virtualization software would enable a mobile-phone maker to add features regardless of the operating system. So Motorola could grab a Web-browsing application written for one system, an e-mail application for another, and calling features designed for a third OS, and elegantly integrate them onto one phone. That could significantly speed up the phone-design process.

While consolidating down to one piece of hardware is certainly an enticing prospect, this type of complexity in the user interface could lead to problems in the consumer market. If platform virtualization ever becomes a standard in the market, it will likely be reserved for power users, or enterprise users who need to be able to access applications on different platforms.

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