Rating: The market for Android antivirus software will get very hot
GoMo News is just back from two days of heavy duty discussions (in Prague) over mobile security software and has come to the conclusion that a lot of the controversy surrounding this subject is down to semantics. There’s no getting away from the fact that in popular parlance the category into which these apps fit is antivirus. No matter if the actual battling with viruses is only a tiny part of the whole protection such apps provide. The general public basically doesn’t differentiate between a virus, a phishing attempt or an item of malware. Maybe they even include spam in the mix as well. Just say your app offers antivirus protection and consumers are happy. The next hurdle to overcome is what happens if your app is free – like Avast! Software‘s is? Is it inferior to paid-for apps? The short answer is No.We’ve been listening to Avast!’s arguments and we’re absolutely converted.
If your business model is right, it is perfectly feasible to put out a product which is free and still offers total protection.
To paraphrase Avast!’s marketing director, Milos Korenko, if you’ve made the decision to release a product for free, why on Earth would you put out a pile of cr*p?
Your business’ whole reputation will stand and fall on how good your free app is.
So Avast! has made jolly sure that its forthcoming free mobile security app for Android is the dog’s b*ll*cks [the best].
Now GoMo News doesn’t have its own software testing labs, so we can’t possibly offer an opinion on how well Avast!’s product will fare against the opposition.
All we can say is that there are a couple of publications – such as the Anti-Virus Bulletin – which do comparisons at specific times.
If you visit Avast!’s web site here you will see how it compares against any of the big names you can think of.
We’ll give you a hand here … Trend, AVG, Microsoft [don't laugh], Kaspersky, McAfee, F-Secure, Sophos and Symantec are all in there.
Milos also made an absolutely spiffing case for why his company has decided to move into the Android arena from basically being a PC antivirus software supplier.
How about this statistic? In 2012, there will be over one billion smartphones in use compared to 0.9 billion personal computers.
Android is likely to dominated with 50 per cent share. [Based on figures from Gartner].
So the need for the major antivirus software producers to move into the Android world is a no brainer.
But – as Avast! claims, this is a big but – you can’t just take your Windows based software and assume it will translate straight into an Android product, it won’t work.
The other useful stat which Avast! came up with is that around 82 per cent of PC owners have installed some form of security app. Yet only 34 per cent of Android users have done so, so far.
If you go into the Android Market right now you can install a beta version of Avast!’s Android app.
Next week there will be a new version and GoMo News intends to keep you up to date with developments there.
