To understand object virtualization, consider the contact list in your phone. A contact can be thought of as a virtual model of an actual person. It is something like a digital identity. Imagine you have a contact named Mary Smith. Mary has a name, a phone number (or two), an email address, maybe a photo.
Mary can have a Facebook profile, a Twitter alias – you can even assign Mary a special ringtone. All of these things combine to create a virtual model of Mary stored in your phone. Now, to make your model of Mary a bit more intelligent and useful, you could add her date of birth, her hair color, her favorite book, her pet cat’s name, or any number of different properties of Mary.