Microsoft’s mobile market share is currently looking pretty insignificant in the consumer space. But in the enterprise, all of that could change with virtualization technology.
Yeah, Perlow is on another tear with virtualization again. But bear with me for a minute.
In previous articles, I’ve talked about how Google and handset hardware manufacturers could take advantage of mobile virtualization technology in order to simplify the distribution and the development of the Android operating system.
Mobile virtualization could be used to solve a number of problems, the main issue being the long waits between OS updates on existing handsets and also to reduce the complexity of having to roll out customized or templated Android OS images to varied hardware designs simultaneously.
Also Read: Android Virtualization, It’s Time
While this is certainly a goal and an important value add to provide this capability to Android phones in the near future, this is not the main reason why these mobile virtualization products are currently under development.
In actuality, the initial “Go to Market” plan for products such as Open Kernel Labs’ OKL4, VMWare’s Mobile Virtualization Platform and Wind River’s Hypervisor is to provide enterprises a means to abstract and wall off the consumer Android OS from a separate Android-based “Virtual Phone” that can be pre-loaded with enterprise applications and connectivity.
This Virtual Phone, which contains all the applications, settings and configuration data needed to communicate with the enterprise messaging and back-end application infrastructure exists as a Virtual Machine, running on an embedded hypervisor, which is deployed “Over the air” through a managed software distribution infrastructure.
The Virtual Phone VM runs as a totally isolated system process, and cannot communicate or share data with the original consumer smartphone OS that came with the device.
The reason why this Virtual Phone concept is beginning to gain traction in large enterprises and at the carriers is because companies are increasingly moving to a “Bring Your Own Device” model in which employees purchase their own personal smartphones, such as Android devices, iPhones and BlackBerrys, but require access to corporate resources such as enterprise secure email, calendaring and other applications.
There are a number of solutions other than virtualization that are being proposed that would allow end-users to flip between personal and corporate data. One of these is BlackBerry Balance, but it is specific to RIM’s handsets and its upcoming PlayBook tablet. For the iPhone, AT&T has developed a solution called Workbench. As of yet, Verizon does not yet have an equivalent solution for their own iOS devices.
Still, the market leader in consumer smartphones is Android, and all indications are that Google’s mobile OS is on an upward trend in overall market share, particularly in the US. While RIM and Apple are jockeying for a strong second place, Microsoft isn’t anywhere near striking distance with Windows Phone.
It’s not even a contender, and it isn’t resonating with consumers despite its innovative UI and Microsoft’s efforts to push it through multiple carriers.
However, all of this could change, provided that we take the turn lemons into lemonades approach, and focus on where Microsoft is strong and Android is weak.
[The Enterprise: Turning the Windows Phone frown Upside Down]»
