[pengaru]

What exactly is Docker enabling here beyond a Docker workflow, which is quite orthogonal to the presence of a vm or emulator?

Isn't the enabling technology here just kernel-level android bits? Docker is fluff, yet ends up dominating the headline.

[nine_k]

Does it not provide the mobile-like environment that apps expect?

I mean, cgroups, firewall rules, and chroot are also already provided by the kernel, but using them for running containers without Docker, or Podman, or LXD, or other piece of "fluff" is slightly unergonomic.

[pengaru]

If it were Docker providing the secret sauce, Docker would be all you need to make it happen on non-Linux hosts.

It's the Linux kernel, configured with the appropriate Android modules, not Docker making this happen.