Windows Phone Thoughts: VMWare Wants Virtualized Operating Systems on Smartphones

"VMware has flagged smartphones as the next platform in the evolution of virtualisation, but at least one major competitor, Microsoft, says that it sees no demand for the technology. Speaking to Computerworld, Srinivas Krishnamurti, VMware's head of mobile phone virtualisation said the company's vision for virtualisation on smartphones went beyond the basic dual-boot prototypes currently in development to one that ran both a private and work operating system and profile at the same time."

While intriguing, I'm somewhat skeptical that something like this would ever be practical in production. Sure in a test situation, network administrators could configure devices to run Windows Mobile alongside Android alongside Symbian, but what carrier is going to greenlight that arrangement? Even though the iPhone-era has seen carriers lighten up their grasp on "customizations" (a.k.a. revenue generating crapware), I doubt any carrier would be thrilled to think of a device they sold (and perhaps subsidized) running multiple operating systems!