Provisioning work environments using virtual phone images

A system to provision a work environment using a virtual phone image, the system comprising:

• a mobile device comprising a processor;
• and
• a storage device comprising executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the mobile device to:
• bind a mobile application package to a privileged component of a firmware operating system (OS) on the mobile device, the mobile application package comprising a software virtualization layer and a management service component, wherein the software virtualization layer and the management service component are enabled to execute in a privileged mode of the firmware OS based on the privileged component, the privileged mode comprising a superuser mode or a root mode;
• download a virtual phone image from a management server;
• and
• launch, by the software virtualization layer, a virtual machine on the mobile device based on the virtual phone image, wherein the management service component is configured to prevent manual termination of the management service component based on the privileged mode of the firmware OS.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium embodying executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause a mobile device to:

• bind a mobile application package to a privileged component of a firmware operating system (OS) on a mobile device, the mobile application package comprising a software virtualization layer and a management service component, wherein the software virtualization layer and the management service component are enabled to execute in a privileged mode of the firmware OS based on the privileged component, the privileged mode comprising a superuser mode or a root mode;
• download a virtual phone image from a management server;
• and
• launch, by the software virtualization layer, a virtual machine on the mobile device based on the virtual phone image, wherein the management service component is configured to prevent manual termination of the management service component based on the privileged mode of the firmware OS.