News 

The VMware Mobile Virtualisation Platform (MVP) is being touted to smartphone manufacturers and will allow them to seperate the phone's applications, including the operating system, from the underlying hardware.

This means less testing needs to occur, and could potentially open the door to smartphones that run multiple operating systems. Ulimately the MVP could shorten the time it takes to get a new phone on the market, VMware claims

"By abstracting the applications and data from the hardware itself, virtualisation will not only enable handset vendors to accelerate time to market but can also pave the way for innovative applications and services for phone users," says Paul Maritz, VMware's chief executive.

The software will be embedded on handsets at the manufacturing stage, and is designed to run on devices with limited memory without straining batteries.

Research from Gartner predicts that half of new smartphones will be virtualised by 2012.