Windows Mobile on an iPhone - Why?

A number of web sites recently posted about a new video that appeared to show an Apple iPhone dual booting Windows Mobile with Apple’s OS-X for the iPhone. A lot of people seemed to get excited at the thought of running both operating systems on the iPhone hardware. As it turns out, the video is a fake, but that doesn’t change the reaction of the community.  Why do so many people want to see Windows Mobile on the iPhone hardware?

First off, the licensing for this would be nothing short of a mess. Does anyone here recall the PocketPalm emulator from way back in 2002? Great idea, but licensing issues kept it from really taking off.  This won’t be much different and I can’t see Apple or Microsoft letting this happen.

Next up - do some people still think that the iPhone is somehow more stable and secure?  There’s been lots of talk about how both are not the case now that 3rd parties are available to develop for the platform. Let us not forget that the Windows Mobile has been extremely stable for those participating in the No Reboot Challenge.

User Interface? A lot of people comment about the user interface on the iPhone being significantly better than Windows Mobile. It’s no secret that Apple has always been better at the user experience. But I don’t see how that is a factor in an application that allows you to dual boot your phone.  What good is the interface if you’re going to dual boot it all the time? Besides, it’s twice the configuration as you would have to configure email and everything else on both operating systems. I would think that an emulator would be a much better choice. However, that doesn’t change the first 3 points I’ve talked about.

What’s next - Style? I guess some people would want to switch phones just to have a more stylish device.  But do these people really care what OS is running on the device? Typically, they are the kind of user who buys the latest device just to say they use whatever the current fad is. Something like this might save them a fair amount of money because they wouldn’t have to re-purchase applications every time they switched devices.

I don’t know. Perhaps I just don’t get it.  I’m all for mobility and choice in mobile operating systems. However, for me there’s no value in an applications like this.

In case you are interested, check out the video over at the Engadet Mobile web site .