Insecure Android::: China Topped The World In Android Infections....

Your App Factoid of the week: 2.53 million Android smartphone users were infected with mobile viruses in Q1 this year, the majority of them in China.That’s according to NetQin Mobile, a Beijing-based SaaS provider offering mobile security solutions.

China accounted for 64% of infected Android phones worldwide in Q1, says a new NetQin study released this week. The second biggest market for Android viruses – the US – comprised less than 8% of the total. (India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia also made the top ten list of countries in the study, though each took up between 2% and 3% of the total.)

 NetQin said China dominated the results in part due to lack of awareness of mobile security issues, but also because of the easy availability of "white box" phones that aren’t tied to a cellco:

"White box" phones often run outdated versions of mobile software and are not provided with security support from legal carriers. The lack of mobile security awareness further adds fuel to the flames, as users often ignore protective measures when engaged in mobile activities, such as using mobile payment channels, web browsing or clicking on URLs from unknown sources, thus allowing more mobile viruses and malware to intrude their mobile devices.

Almost half of infected phones were running Froyo (Android OS V2.2), with another 34% running Eclair (Android OS V2.1). Malicious fee deduction and privacy theft comprised the bulk of the threats reported (45% and 30%, respectively).

Interestingly, NetQin also says that the main source of attacks was Android Market, which accounted for nearly 60% of threats.

Naturally, NetQin’s answer is to all this is cloud computing (did we mention they’re in the SaaS business?), so you can take that with as many grains of salt as you like.

On the other hand, the cloud will certainly have a role to play in mobile security, at least for enterprises nervous about employee smartphones accessing the corporate LAN, or operators hoping to offer hosted mobile security services like remote back-up, locking, tracking and wiping.

Read More

Google Unveils Mobile Wallet:: Now Paying Is Easy

Google has taken the wraps off its long-awaited mobile wallet service, and named its first partners in the venture.The company has teamed with wireless operator Sprint, financial services firm Citi, payment company MasterCard and transaction company First Data for live trials of Google Wallet.

Google said the NFC payment service for Android will be released first on the Nexus S 4G from Sprint.

It will initially support Citi MasterCards supporting MasterCard's PayPass contactless payment system, as well as a Google Prepaid Card that can be funded with most credit or debit cards.

 Field tests are set to begin in the northern hemisphere's summer in New York and San Francisco, where Google said many retailers, vending machines and taxis already support PayPass.

 The company will also work with companies including VeriFone, Hypercom, Ingenico and VIVOTech to develop a new point of sale system, SingleTap. Google named 17 retailers participating in the SingleTap program.

Google has also been testing promotions ranging from discounts on items discovered through its search adds, to coupons received when entering a store.

But the company is facing legal hurdles before it even launches the service. PayPal has filed a lawsuit accusing Google of misappropriating its trade secrets.

PayPal alleges that Osama Bedier - a former PayPal executive - stole confidential information about the payment company's mobile payment business when leaving to work at Google, Bloomberg reported. 

The suit states that Bedier is now leading Google's point of sale efforts, and claims that Bedier and Google also disclosed PayPal trade secrets to major retailers.

In other Google mobile news, the company earlier this week revealed that the company now gets 2.7 billion ad requests through its AdMob mobile advertising network per day.

Read More

Lenovo's Upcoming Android Honeycomb Based Tablet

Lenovo is working on a Honeycomb tablet and it will be announced shortly, but the details were still scarce about the tablet till now. Thanks to the premature listings on Buy.com and Krex.com today, we know the expected hardware details of this Lenovo device. Krez.com listing has even priced the tablet at USD510.
These leaked details are in some conflict with earlier released specs, but nothing was confirmed at that time, we are putting our money on today’s leak.
According to the listing,
Lenovo IdeaPad K1

• 1GHz nVIDIA Tegra 2 Processor
• 10.1 inch display
• 1GB DDR2 RAM
• 32 GB Internal Storage
• Android 3.0

 It will come with pre-loaded apps like Kindle, Angry Birds, and Lenovo Social Touch. We are hoping now Lenovo announces the tablet soon, may be at the upcoming Computex trade fair.

Read More

Windows Phone not selling? Who cares – Android makes more money for Microsoft....

According to a report released by Citi Analyst Walter Pritchard, Microsoft is getting USD 5 for every HTC Android device sold in the market. This money is coming from the Patent Settlement made between the two parties Microsoft and HTC under which Microsoft will get royalty payments on HTC phones running Android. Microsoft, which holds a wide range of software patents, did not say exactly what technology in the phones the agreement concerns.
The deal comes as smartphones using Google’s new operating system — which Google allows phone makers to use for free — gain in popularity. Microsoft charges handset makers like HTC and others to use its Windows phone software.
The smartphone market is riven with legal disputes as software companies and handset makers wrangle over who deserves compensation for technology behind new devices which go well beyond traditional mobile phones.
        A simple math reveals that how this USD 5 is generating more money for Microsoft than all their Windows Phone sales. HTC is shipped around 30 million Android phone, which means USD 150 million for Microsoft, on the other hand Microsoft get USD 15 for the WP license from device sales and only 2 million were sold giving the company USD 30 in revenue.
150 million from Android and just 30 million from Windows Phone, that’s the reason why Microsoft is running around suing everyone.

Read More

Hounds For Android:::: Free Voice Search Apps

SoundHound Inc, makers of the SoundHound, have just unleashed the Hound; a new, stripped down of its song-identifying app.
Hound operates on a Shazam-like basis, only instead of searching for a song by placing the phone next to a speaker all searches are generated by voice commands. You simply tap the button, speak the name of the song or artist (or both) and the Hound will have a go at searching for your track.
While not ideal for finding out what’s playing on the radio (a la Shazam) it is a good way of searching for a specific song that you want to buy on the go.
Hound also it links up nicely with the Amazon MP3 and YouTube apps. So if you’ve just watched that episode of Glee, you can fire up Hound and simply say “The Chain by Fleetwood Mac”, and there’ll be little Amazon and YouTube links to click on at the bottom of the screen.
In  a sense, it’s basically a tool that allows you to voice search for MP3s on Amazon and videos on YouTube. But one that works quickly and looks good. Plus it’s free so if you just like the idea of having voice search for your musical needs, then the Hound is for you.

The full version of SoundHound is a little more advanced and comes in free (ad-supported) and paid (no ads) editions (SoundHound Infinity).
As well as offering the voice activated search, SoundHound allows you to a hum, whistle or sing a tune into your phone’s mic and it’ll do the best to find the track for you. It’s effectiveness depends on your ability to whislte/how tone defa your singing is, but it’s pretty genius and works most of the time.
You can also search for songs with SoundHound by holding in up to a speaker in the manner of Shazam and (whisper it) Sony Ericsson’s Track ID.
While SoundHound is available for both iPhones and Android devices, Hound is currently and Android-only deal.

Read More

What Makes Android Phone Different From Others?

Android is the name of a Open source Operating System  that is ruling today's Smartphone  market. It’s developed by Google and comes with a range of Google features, most notably Search and Maps, installed as standard.This means you will find it easy to search any type of information on the web.

You can also access other Google services, like Gmail, Google Earth,You Tube and Google Calendar on an Android phone.

                                       Keeping Android Smartphone has became a sign of royalty in our society now a days, and the way it is taking over other mobile operating system like Symbian , Java etc itself says the story of its success and gaining popularity. You will see that the growth of  Google's Android that is 88.6 % from 2009 to 2010.

Special Features That Makes It Different::

Open  Source & Frequent Updates: 

                                                               Every handset maker is free to make an Android phone if they want to. As well as the tag like HTC, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, LG, Acer, Dell and Huawei have all made Android phones. There isn’t however a Nokia and BlackBerry Android phone and there probably won’t be. Their is frequent development in this operation system that keeps it update with the latest demands. Android updates are free of cost and each updates enhance the speed of the system.

Huge Range  of Apps::

                                          For android system huge range of Application & Games are available in the Smartphone Market. Some of them are free of cost but some are premium apps and cost a few penny.

Social Networking::

                           It is highly friendly when it come to the social networking. You can check your Facebook and Twitter profiles through a variety of apps making it ideal for social networking. 

Highly Secure ::

                           When it comes to the security It has  history of being almost untouched when it comes to malware.But it looks like the industry is changing. More and more people are finding themselves using smartphones to replace conventional computers, and this poses a huge problem for hackers. There has been a steady decline in computer usage over the past year or so, and hackers are turning their malware creation towards smartphones as a whole.

Using Same OS By Different Company Will Enhance The Quality::
                                                                                   In addition, as a result of many mobile phones carrying Google Android, companies will come up with such innovative products like the location– aware services that will provide users with any information they might be in need of. This information could include knowing the location of a nearby convenience store or filling station. In addition the entertainment functionalities will be taken a notch higher by Google Android being able to offer online real time multiplayer games.

Read More