Google Phone

Although some are predicting high standards of device security with Android, and the team working on the platform are busy publicising the high-level architecture that puts security under the remit of the Linux processes rather than VM, that hasn’t stopped anti-virus companies issuing ominous warnings about a spike in cellphone malware once handsets start hitting the market.  SMobile Systems, who are behind the SecurityShield anti-virus and malware package already available for Symbian, Palm, Blackberry and Windows Mobile systems, have today announced not only their concerns that Android’s Linux-base will more easily facilitate virus authors, but that they’re developing a retail product to help prevent against it.

“Once millions of consumers get these new devices into their hands, the thousands of hackers out there will turn their attention to the Google powered phones … The Google Phone platform will enable users to more easily access the Internet and download applications, which is great - but it will also encourage the hacking community to make new and more virulent strains of attacks” Rick Roscitt, CEO, SMobile Systems

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The glossy demo videos of Android are all well and good, but if the reference designs are to be translated into meaningful hardware the guts of the platform need to be better understood.  Over at the Android Developers Blog the latest podcast features two of the architects from the engineering team, Dianne Hackborn and Jason Parks, who talk us through some technical history of the project, discuss security and the way services are handled, as well as guidance on programming for small devices.

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Eschewing Android on a software emulator, the team at eu.edge instead turned their attentions to another venerable Linux-based mobile device: Sharp’s Zaurus SL-C760.  Only officially sold in Japan, the C760 has a 640 x 480 VGA screen and uses a 400MHz Intel XScale processor together with flash storage.  By rebuilding the Android directory tree on a host PC to match that of the emulator, then mount that as an NFS share on the Zaurus, they were able to get the Google Phone platform to boot.

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In a move almost certain to be a calculated response to Verizon’s sudden bursting open of their CDMA network, AT&T has decided to begin publicising the fact that customers can use any GSM handset they wish with the company’s services, rather than needing to buy a vouchsafed model from AT&T’s range.  That should go some way to excusing the carrier’s absence from Google’s OHA; while Android is not directly supported, handsets built on the platform should have no problems accessing AT&T’s service as long as they adhere to the GSM standard.  It’s rather a case of making existing options better known than introducing new features; AT&T has had such an open-access policy for several years, but preferred to keep it quiet so as to encourage new customers to buy cellphones from them rather than reuse their old model.

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With the deadline for 700MHz auction “intent to bid” applications being close of business yesterday, a tentative shortlist of potential spenders is being drawn up.  According to the FCC’s auction rules companies are under no obligation to disclose their intent publicly (indeed some potential players have cited the Commission’s own confidentiality policy in declining to answer) but that hasn’t stopped analysts from having their say.  Currently, Google, AT&T, Cox Communications and Frontline Wireless are all believed to have submitted applications, the latter confirming with CNET that they were part of a consortium that includes ex-Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale and Kleiner Perkins venture-capitalist John Doerr, while the former did so last week.  Neither AT&T nor Cox would comment.

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Perhaps we should’ve seen it coming, but the news that Verizon Wireless is - in sentiment if not in certificate - signing up to the Open Handset Alliance still registers as something of a surprise.  The carrier, which hinted at its open-access intentions earlier this month by announcing that it would allow non-Verizon-designed devices to use its network from 2008 (and was, from some quarters at least, roundly criticised for “paying lip-service” to the newly fashionable concept), has gone one further and called Android “an enabler of what we do.”

CEO Lowell McAdam broke the news that, what was previously the most closed of the US operators, would now use Android with a rejoinder to sceptics that open-access has been brewing at Verizon for the past twelve months.  He cites his experience at European and Asian networks, and the positive effect he saw of customers being able to move devices in-between companies, as a primary reason for pushing for the relaxed boundaries.  Devices will still need to satisfy initial checks but the onus for compatibility will be left with manufacturers and developers rather than Verizon itself; similarly, the customer service remit will change from the in-depth support offered for users of the network’s core range to handset or application providers.

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Datamation’s Kenneth van Wyk rolls up his sleeves and sets to work comparing the relative security strengths of the Android platform and Apple’s iPhone, using a combination of architecture documentation, premonition and feedback from the latter’s avid hacker community.  He rates them in categories of application security architecture, openness and configuration management, as well as examining how straightforward it is for third-party software to tap into the underlying safety features:

“There’s more to “openness” than just accessibility of a product’s source code. The Android team has clearly documented the process for developing and installing applications for Android, including how to interface with the underlying security framework. That openness has already resulted in at least one product vendor announcing it will be developing security applications—firewall, anti-spam, anti-malware, etc—for the platform” Kenneth van Wyk, Datamation

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As the Android platform matures, more third-party developers are looking to step on board with the Open Handset Alliance; the latest of these, with a strong background in enterprise data mobility, is California-based Sybase, Inc.  The company - who facilitate database systems that can be accessed on a variety of hardware and software platforms - espouse a concept they call “the Unwired Enterprise”, a cross-platform network that delivers data to Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm and Linux-based devices, among others.

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