Well, maybe! We blogged a few weeks ago about the issues facing workers who are forced to use two mobiles, one for work and one personal, and the ‘bring a device to work’ trend of using your personal mobile for work related tasks and why that is a bad idea. We suggested a solution and it seems like someone, namely O2 may have been listening.
The problem is one of security, both yours security and that of the company you work for. Many companies would not allow you to connect a personal laptop to the company’s Intranet, but by allowing your mobile to connect is essentially running the same security risk. We suggested the solution may well be in having an Operating System that allows you to switch between two completely separate profiles while operating from the same SIM. This could create a clear separation between personal data plus applications, and those used for business.
It seems O2 have a solution for this which they deem Dual Persona. This is not exactly what we had in mind, and does appear more of a kludge, but essentially achieves a similar goal by using the cloud, combined with VMWare to allow you access to a virtual business phone which can be managed remotely from any location.
This solution, for the Android platform will be rolled out by Telefonica (the owners of O2) in Spain during Q2 2012, with the UK to follow shortly. We don’t think this is an ideal solution to the dual mobile conundrum, but it is certainly a step in the right direction, and as we predicted in our previous blog post, Android’s open approach has lead the way forward.
What do you think about Dual Persona? Do you see it as being the solution, or just a small step in the right direction?