Open Kernel Labs (OK Labs), the leading global provider of embedded virtualization software for mobile phones and broadband Internet devices, today announced publication of a landmark "teardown" white paper providing a peek inside the world's first virtualized mobile phone and detailing the impact of mobile virtualization on wireless devices. The white paper will be released during ARM techcon3, where OK Labs will also demonstrate the company's OKL4 mobile virtualization technology powering the Motorola Evoke QA4 smartphone.

The white paper comes from the pen of industry analyst Bill Weinberg, Principal of Linux Pundit and Mobile Practice Partner at the Olliance Group. Weinberg examines how developing and deploying devices with mobile virtualization directly impacts the bottom line for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) by reducing manufacturing costs. The publication also spells out incremental benefits of mobile virtualization, including performance and power management, as paths to both cost reduction and differentiation in a dynamic marketplace.

The OK Labs demonstration highlights the hosting of multiple complementary "guest" operating systems (OSes) on a single low-end ARM processor, combining applications and baseband processing. The hardware consolidation not only results in significant bill of material (BOM) savings, but also enables richer interaction among software components, in particular, between the Linux application OS and the BREW® environment for baseband and legacy application execution. The demo illustrates two applications running on separate OSes, working seamlessly together on a single low-cost ARM processor, with no performance degradation.

"This groundbreaking white paper and the demonstration of Motorola's innovative smartphone leave no doubt about the concrete benefits of mobile virtualization," said Steve Subar, President and CEO, OK Labs. "With mobile virtualization, OEMs realize substantially reduced BOM costs and provably better margins. MNOs can buy and sell smartphones for featurephone prices. This alleviates the subsidy strain and enables them to extend the capabilities of rich OSes such as Android, Linux, and Symbian to a larger market, opening opportunities for MNOs to offer more wireless data and online services."

"With mobile virtualization, OEMs can save as much as $46 BOM cost per phone, which translates into better margins through channel and cost savings for MNOs and end users," added Robert McCammon, Vice President of Product Management, OK Labs. "Moreover, such savings also expand the smartphone market, providing opportunities for data services growth and bolstering annual revenue per user (ARPUs)."

Download the White Paper

The mobile virtualization teardown white paper is available for download from the OK Labs web site at http://www.ok-labs.com/whitepapers/sample/motorola-evoke-teardown.