Nokia’s N900 has been hacked to allow it to boot Maemo (native OS) and Google’s Android. The video shows that the phone is capable of running either OS. It appears that the phone’s internal memory has been partitioned, similar to most dual boot computer setups. The video follows along with some implications.
Not surprisingly, the first phone to accomplish the dual boot feat is the Nokia N900, arguably the most powerful phone on the market today. The video suggests, however, that switching OSs “on the fly” is a cumbersome process. Boot up time is a drag and most people who normally stick with one of the two OSs instead of operating both. Accordingly, it is unclear that the dual boot of two linux variants, Maemo and Android, will have any practical implications for the N900.
I believe this has significant potential for future Blackberry devices, however. I wrote on Crackberry many months ago about the significant potential of a dual boot Blackberry OS and Android phone. Although Blackberry OS is not a linux variant, presumably Android could be customized for a Blackberry phone. If boot up times could be reduced on the Blackberry, dual boot could breathe new life into RIM. The biggest problem facing RIM in the consumer market is lack of adequate app development. Frankly, almost the entire universe of Blackberry apps sucks. This has been a headache for RIM because it has been forced to program a number of the most popular apps in-house (Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, upcoming Twitter, etc.). So, dual boot might enable the business folks to run Blackberry OS by day and Android on the nights and weekends. Obviously, there would be significant hurdles like competing inboxes, dual calendars, etc.
If phones could virtualize another OS, then things could get much more interesting. Imagine a Blackberry OS device that could run Android apps without rebooting. None of the problems mentioned in the preceding paragraph would arise. Virtualization is admittedly difficult on slow processors and with present battery technology. However, RIM needs to seriously consider its competitive position and figure out a way for Android apps to run on Blackberry OS. Otherwise, they can kiss the consumer market goodbye… quickly.
[via Gizmodo with credits to jkontherun citing Brandon's Posterous.]
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