A multiple variance platform supports device management of mobile devices in a carrier network. Applications stored in a file system residing in non-volatile memory may be updated, along with firmware code. Updates of files may be performed before file system support is provided by an operating system that enables normal operations of the electronic device. Update agent code may reside in a kernel that runs beneath the operating system, or may act as a separate entity. The non-volatile memory may comprise multiple non-volatile memory chips such as NAND-based flash memory. The firmware code may be compressed as in Linux based mobile devices.