VMware Virtualizing Windows, Linux...And Now Mac (EMC, VMW, AAPL)

VMware, the soon-to-be partial IPO and partial spin-off out of EMC Corp (NYSE:EMC), has announced the general availability of VMware Fusion.  This will now allow Mac users to run Mac OS X, Windows, and other PC-based apps on a single Mac.  The suggested box retail price is $79.99.

Interestingly enough, it isn’t on sale throughout the entire distribution chain yet.  VMware Fusion is now available online at vmware.com/mac, the Apple Store (apple.com), Amazon.com, Buy.com, Fry’s (frys.com), Microcenter (microcenter.com) and CompUSA (compusa.com). The software will soon be available at Apple’s retail stores and other authorized retailers worldwide.

The software allows Mac users to run both 32- and 64-bit operating systems, leveraging two processor cores at the same time and using a wide variety of USB 2.0 devices. VMware Fusion is also the only Mac virtualization software available today to provide full support for more than 60 operating systems and complete power management capabilities to safeguard virtual machines when laptops are running out of battery.  There have been more than 250,000 downloads of VMware Fusion since the beta became available in December 2006.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has to be happy about this being available ahead of the new OS launch later this year.  The company has unbelievable upside to market share gains in computer sales, and the more and more that can ‘ease the PC to Mac transition’ can really help Apple out.  If this works incredibly well, this could even migrate more of the business consumer away from "Windows-only" PC environments.  It is still too soon to make that prediction, but it will be interesting to see if this can start bumping those impressive numbers up even more.

Jon C. Ogg
August 6, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.