VMware is finally bringing mobile virtualization to market, but it’s far from a slam-dunk solution to bring-your-own-device problems.

The VMware Horizon Mobile service will become available on Verizon Wireless smartphones within months, the companies said at VMworld Europe this week. Horizon Mobile is designed to keep corporate data and applications segregated and protected on personal smartphones, but issues around device compatibility and management may hamper IT adoption, experts said.

For one, Horizon Mobile will be available only on Android devices.

“You need more device and more OS support to make [mobile virtualization] valid at an enterprise level,” said Brian Katz, director of mobility at a major pharmaceutical company.

How Horizon Mobile works

Horizon Mobile relies on the Mobile Virtualization Platform (MVP), a mobile phone hypervisor that VMware introduced  in 2008. MVP creates two environments on the same smartphone — one for personal use and one for business. IT administrators can monitor, secure and deploy applications to the business environment using the VMware Horizon Mobile Manager portal.

But Horizon Mobile Manager creates Android images that admins must manage. That may be a turn off in some IT shops, because it creates a lot of overhead, Katz said.

Mobile virtualization on Android only: ‘A messy situation’

VMware has said it’s working on bringing MVP to the iPhone, but Apple has shown no inclination (at least publicly) to allow mobile virtualization on iOS. If mobile virtualization ultimately solves  bring-your-own-device (BYOD) issues, this lack of iOS support will be a roadblock, because not all end users are Android owners.

“It’s kind of a messy situation,” said Ben Schorr, CEO of Roland Schorr and Tower, an IT consultancy based in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Mobile virtualization isn’t even necessary on the iPhone or Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7. Unlike Android smartphones, those devices have monitored app stores, and the applications come with a certain level of security, said Wes Miller, research analyst with Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Wash.-based consulting firm. Miller pointed out that one of the biggest complaints about iOS — its lack of multitasking capabilities — is actually an asset when it comes to security.

“The applications are incredibly sandboxed, and … that is a great security solution, even though it limits the productivity of apps,” he said. “[Mobile virtualization] is an incredibly high-charged security approach, and that’s great, but the fatal flaw is that you’re having to consider this, on Android, because the platform itself is intrinsically not secure.”

Mobile virtualization: One aspect of BYOD?

It’s not an overall BYOD option, but Horizon Mobile can help IT get more control over end users accessing corporate data and applications on Android smartphones, Schorr said.

“If you don’t give the end users what they want, they find ways to get around it,” he said. “Mobile virtualization is going to be a solution if for no other reason than to placate those users.”

Katz agreed that mobile virtualization does have some valuable uses, such as for specific projects where every employee has the same device. But overall, it’s better to try to manage all mobile devices with as few tools as possible, he said.

“Do you handle your Android devices one way, do you handle your iOS devices another way, do you handle your Windows Phone devices a third way, or do you try to find a solution to best unite all three?” he said.

Horizon Mobile device details

LG Electronics will be the first manufacturer to offer Horizon Mobile on its Verizon Wireless devices. VMware also has a mobile virtualization deal with Samsung and is working with Google to add MVP to the Android kernel.

At the conference, VMware also disclosed a Horizon Mobile partnership with Telefonica, a wireless carrier that does business in Spain, Latin America and South America.

NEW YORK — There’s room for a third vendor to succeed alongside Apple and Google in the mobile OS market. Who that vendor will be — Microsoft or RIM — is up for debate.

Analysts discussed the future of the market during an Interop session this morning. Research in Motion (RIM) has dominated in the business world with its BlackBerry smartphones, but its long-term outlook isn’t so rosy, thanks to employees buying iPhones, iPads and Android devices and using them for work.

Even if RIM as a company doesn’t survive this shift, the BlackBerry will still maintain a strong enterprise presence, said Rohit Mehra, director of enterprise communications infrastructure for IDC.

“BlackBerry’s going to be around, in terms of the install base, for a long time,” he said. “Things don’t change that fast in our industry.”

But Mark Lowenstein, managing director of Mobile Ecosystem, said Microsoft is in a better position, thanks to Windows’ huge install base among business users.

“It’s going to be very interesting to see what Microsoft does in this space over the next year,” he said. “They already have multiple hooks in the enterprise.”

Andrew Borg, senior research analyst with the Aberdeen Group, called Microsoft a “force to be reckoned with” because of its Windows Phone OS. The latest version, Mango, features a unique design that will set Microsoft smartphones apart, Borg said.

“They are not imitating iOS,” he said. “There are many that think that Android is a clone of iOS. You can’t argue that with Microsoft.”

Hewlett-Packard has told CEO Leo Apotheker to hit the bricks after less than year on the job. Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman will replace him.

Apotheker was under fire for the failure of HP’s TouchPad tablets, his idea to spin off the company’s successful PC line and the $10.3 billion acquisition of software vendor Autonomy. Thanks to those moves and repeated cuts to HP’s sales forecasts, the company’s stock has dropped nearly in half since Apotheker became CEO in November.

The news came a day after The New York Times reported that most HP board members had never met Apotheker before voting to hire him. But they’ve all met Whitman; she’s been on the board since January.

Windows Phone 7 Mango update due soon

Windows Phone 7.5, code-named Mango, will be out “in the next week or two,” Microsoft said Wednesday. The Mango update process will also deliver specialized firmware for each Windows Phone 7 device, developed to make sure all phone features and apps work with the new OS.

The Windows Phone 7 Mango update will bring multitasking capabilities, support for 4G networks, threaded email and advanced messaging and social networking features.

McAfee focuses on mobile

McAfee laid out its security strategy for mobile devices this week. The company’s approach focuses on securing devices themselves, along with the apps they run and the data they store. Antivirus, application scanning and even systems management technologies are part of McAfee’s strategy, highlighted by its Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) product. EMM is designed to give admins the same level of control over mobile devices that they have over corporate PCs and laptops.

Layoffs hit PlayBook manufacturer

Quanta Computer, manufacturer of Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook, is laying off 1,000 workers because of the tablet’s poor sales. DigiTimes reported that Quanta’s Taiwan-based PlayBook production line started with more than 2,000 employees, so these layoffs mean a 50% staff reduction.

Given the enterprise dominance of BlackBerry smart phones, hopes were high that the PlayBook could have similar success in the tablet market. But the phones’ major selling point, corporate email access, didn’t carry over, because for some reason the PlayBook doesn’t have a native email client.

RIM shipped only 500,000 PlayBooks in the second quarter of this year, and that number dropped to 200,000 last quarter. RIM’s profits plunged 59% last quarter as well, and Wednesday its stock price reached at a five-year low.

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