| Smartphones are wireless, they're mobile, they're even | | | | opted for the user-friendlier interface of the |
| cellular (though who really calls them that anymore), but | | | | BlackBerry, for example. Or being able to install Apple's |
| virtual? In this case the term does not apply to | | | | iPhone OS on your Palm. |
| cyberspace, where a virtual phone call comes in from | | | | This also means (listen-up all you technophiles) that |
| a virtual friend on your virtual smartphone. No, in terms | | | | users will be able to install Linux on their smartphones |
| of the future of smartphones as a product, a medium, | | | | without interfering with the phone's existing OS. To the |
| and an industry, we're talking about "virtualization", as | | | | average consumer, this may not seem like much, but |
| heralded by the promising work of one company, the | | | | people who know Linux know how many useful and |
| aptly-named VirtualLogix. | | | | convenient plugins with completely user-friendly |
| To some, the term virtualization may be familiar as | | | | interfaces the technophile and average consumer alike |
| applied to computers and servers, wherein virtualization | | | | will have access to in no time at all. |
| technology helps their hardware to run better and | | | | It also means that consumers can look forward to |
| enables them to juggle multiple operating systems. In | | | | getting, as one web writer put it, "a high-end feature on |
| terms of smartphones, virtualization would mean a | | | | a low-end phone". This kind of versatility could mean |
| quantum leap forward for consumers in the | | | | more feature-rich smartphones at lower cost to the |
| functionality of their favorite little handheld device. | | | | consumer. It could mean a neo-video game revolution |
| To give some perspective on the possibilities here, let's | | | | on smartphones. And it could redefine what |
| take a step back from smartphones and look at plain, | | | | customization means in terms of smartphones, as |
| old, everyday cell phones. Virtualization technology can | | | | users will be able to make their trusty handheld |
| turn a regular cell phone into a smartphone. Now start | | | | devices as uniquely functional and stylish as are they |
| to imagine what that suggests the technology might do | | | | themselves. |
| for phone that's already smart. Make it smarter? | | | | And if you think the idea of having a combination |
| Better? Faster? It's starting to sound like the 6 Million | | | | BlackBerry-Palm-Windows Mobile-iPhone is a pipe |
| Dollar Smartphone. | | | | dream, consider the fact that Cisco Systems, Intel, |
| Smartphone makers - read: Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, | | | | Texas Instruments, and Motorola have all invested |
| RIM, Apple - will be able to install VirtualLogix | | | | large amounts of capital into the venture. |
| virtualization software during manufacture, and give | | | | You can expect to hear a lot more about virtualization |
| them the ability to run multiple operating systems. | | | | in relation to the smartphone industry in the coming |
| Imagine no longer having to miss out on the | | | | months. |
| productivity features of Windows Mobile because you | | | | |