Focus

T he next generation of open operating systems won’t be on desktops or mainframes but on the small mobile devices we carry every day. The openness of these new environments will lead to new applications and markets and will enable greater integra-tion with existing online services. However, as the importance of the data and services our cell phones support increases, so too do the op-portunities for vulnerability. It’s es-sential that this next generation of platforms provide a comprehensive and usable security infrastructure. Developed by the Open Hand-set Alliance (visibly led by Google), Android is a widely anticipated open source operating system for mobile devices that provides a base operating system, an application middleware layer, a Java software development kit (SDK), and a col-lection of system applications. Al-though the Android SDK has been available since late 2007, the first publicly available Android-ready “G1 ” phone debuted in late Oc