Android, Google’s open source software platform for mobile phones, is just a few inches away (make that 2 months) away from being adopted as the best thing to ever happen to the market. Though we may have better applications for our cellphones, a fully open platform should be associated with greater risks than a phone running Symbian or Windows Mobile.

It’s not news anymore, but in 2004 when cellphones viruses got smart and were able to dial unwanted calls or send unwanted messages, we were not ready to accept that software development has higher risks associated. But Android is not the only open-source software the market is expecting. Apple, also decided to open its software platform to third party developers.

Where these lead? We have Android that everyone is waiting like it’s going to change the world and we have Apple’s where people want it just because it wasn’t open from the begining. The mobile community/industry wants open source software badly and hackers could work on it, just as bad.

“Concerns about specific mobile security risks or … reliability of services is a crucial issue for operators, particularly in mature markets,” Victor Kouznetsov, senior vice president at McAfee’s mobile unit, said in a statement. He also said that “Consumer fears are growing in tandem with increased mobile functionality”.

In a recent study by McAfee it was revealed that one in seven global mobile users have been exposed to mobile viruses or know people that were exposed. Is the mobile market prepared? Probably not. Will they go open source? Definitely.

Maybe they’ll invent mobile phones antiviruses that we install and then screm we can’t browse the menu fast enough

photo by monirguru