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Eric Schmidt Says Android is 'More Secure Than The iPhone', Prompting Laughter

Walled garden of iOS?

Just have to add that as an iOS Enterprise developer program member I can create and distribute via a simple web server ANY iOS app I develop. The device does NOT need to be jailbroken at all. How do you think corporate applications are distributed? Not via the app store, that's for sure!
This is not making a comment on the security of the device at all, I just find it amusing when people say iOS is totally locked down to apps via the app store, unless said device is jailbroken. This isn't the case.
 
macgeof said:
Just have to add that as an iOS Enterprise developer program member I can create and distribute via a simple web server ANY iOS app I develop. The device does NOT need to be jailbroken at all. How do you think corporate applications are distributed? Not via the app store, that's for sure!
This is not making a comment on the security of the device at all, I just find it amusing when people say iOS is totally locked down to apps via the app store, unless said device is jailbroken. This isn't the case.
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Well, call me when they offer the iOS Enterprise developer program to a single user for a reasonable fee (imo it should be free for a single user).
This is the single biggest reason i was turned from iOS. As a note, this program does not give root access - which many jb'ers value (adblocker).
 
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I must admit when I first saw Schmidt's photo on Mac Rumors, I thought why is this site showing an amber alert suspect. The dude seriously looks creepy. :eek:
 
bmunge said:
Why do you believe that iOS is designed for non savvy users? Having a device that works great, is consistent, powerful, and polished isn't something the tech savvy are interested in? Okay...
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He's probably one of those "it doesn't even have widgets" guys. :eek:
 
Please show me how I can be secure while using services from American companies, the same ones who must comply with national security letters to give up master encryption keys for example.
 
viperGTS said:
He then noted that Android had over a billion users, is a platform that will be around for a long time and how that means the platform has gone through rigorous real-world security testing.
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Absolutely. Look how well rigorous real-world security testing from a billion users worked on Windows, Outlook, and IE...
 
absurdamerica said:
Android is an Operating System.

iOS is an Operating System.

OSX is an Operating System.

Windows is an Operating System.

We're comparing Android and iOS and their security, not Android with iOS, OSX, and Windows versions of Apple's software products.
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Correct. I'm glad you understand the situation.
 
Spetsnazos said:
Apple deniers in full force but as a dev he is right. The only time security becomes an issue with android is with custom roms kernels and radios.

iOS just can't be customized at all. Most stock roms on android are super secure, very similar to iOS.

iOS is designed primarily for the average non Savvy user but that's fine it's a good OS for day to day tasks.
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The point of actually having Android is to part ways with any stock ROM where big G's products are integrated. They pioneered mass-scale spying of users, and more and more Android users don't trust them anymore.

This is not to say iOS is free of vulnerabilities or outright backdoors, but at least it informs you when it accesses your personal data.

felt. said:
Please show me how I can be secure while using services from American companies, the same ones who must comply with national security letters to give up master encryption keys for example.
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This is the single most pertinent comment in this whole thread. Even if totally excluding US-issue apps and devices border on utopian, this is still a goal we must tend to.
 
Spetsnazos said:
Apple deniers in full force but as a dev he is right. The only time security becomes an issue with android is with custom roms kernels and radios.

iOS just can't be customized at all. Most stock roms on android are super secure, very similar to iOS.

iOS is designed primarily for the average non Savvy user but that's fine it's a good OS for day to day tasks.
Click to expand...

Feeling a bit elitist then? I thought Apple fans were supposed to be the snide condescending elitists, good to see the Droid army have their own deluded snobs.

People laugh because the open nature of the Android marketplace does make Android more insecure by nature, irrespective of automatic malware scanning etc. Apple's paranoia in insisting on checking every submission is well-founded, yet no guarantee that something gets through. Yet so far iOS as a platform HAS proved far more secure, with the vast majority of malware, something on the order of 80%, including the most severe kinds like Trojans and keyloggers, have been on Android, the rest for other platforms like Symbian. I'm not aware of a single outbreak in the Apple store, let alone one infecting millions of users, which has been the case on Android several times in the past; Google had to remove a swathe of apps not that long ago all using the same malware kit distributed on hacker forums.
Security is not just about the code; it is only as good as the weakest link, which is usually the user. In the end the device has to be user-friendly and be able to install the apps the user chooses, even if it is an infected flashlight app. Malware developers aren't stupid, open source also means they get to see how they can work the system.
 
Yamcha said:
I'm by no means an expert, but because Android is a open platform, naturally it'll be at the cost of some security.

But as an Android user, I appreciate some of the things that can only be done on the Android platform because it is open.

It must be said though, I'd say Android can certainly be as secure as iOS provided users take some precaution's and download primarily from the play store.

But there is no doubt that in theory and probably even in real world scenario iOS may be the more secure platform at this time.
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In reality, most Play Store apps are also insecure:
http://obamapacman.com/2013/09/android-remote-malicious-code-execution/
 
Spetsnazos said:
iOS is designed primarily for the average non Savvy user but that's fine it's a good OS for day to day tasks.
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This is complete bunk.

The percentage of Android users that go out of their way to leverage the serious customization options is actually quite low.

I work for a company with some of the brightest, most technical people I've ever met and there are iPhones aplenty here. I write incredibly sophisticated software solving some of the toughest scalability problems that exist ... and you'd have to pry my iPhone out of my cold, dead fingers to get it away. This is not designed for non savvy users any more than android phones are.

What I have is a precision engineered piece of equipment, with high aesthetic appeal, filled with well implemented tech that makes my life easier.

That's why I have an iPhone.
 
Spetsnazos said:
Apple deniers in full force but as a dev he is right. The only time security becomes an issue with android is with custom roms kernels and radios.

iOS just can't be customized at all. Most stock roms on android are super secure, very similar to iOS.

iOS is designed primarily for the average non Savvy user but that's fine it's a good OS for day to day tasks.
Click to expand...

This is not close to being accurate.
 
eoblaed said:
This is complete bunk.

The percentage of Android users that go out of their way to leverage the serious customization options is actually quite low.

I work for a company with some of the brightest, most technical people I've ever met and there are iPhones aplenty here. I write incredibly sophisticated software solving some of the toughest scalability problems that exist ... and you'd have to pry my iPhone out of my cold, dead fingers to get it away. This is not designed for non savvy users any more than android phones are.

What I have is a precision engineered piece of equipment, with high aesthetic appeal, filled with well implemented tech that makes my life easier.

That's why I have an iPhone.
Click to expand...

Let's put it this way. There is a subset of the "tech savvy" population that likes tinkering with their gadgets. These people aren't necessarily more or less savvy than some of the power users in the iOS world. Android is able to cater to both tinkerers and non-tinkerers alike. iOS requires a jailbreak to satisfy the former.

I consider myself to be part of the tinkering group; just gives me more satisfaction to setup my phone exactly as I want it. Not necessarily for aesthetics; by and large any modification I do tends to be "under the hood". This aspect of me goes beyond phones really -- I'm the same way with my car and to a lesser extent my house. To date I've been content with iOS thanks to the jailbreaker. But I'd be lying if I said I'm not increasingly tempted by Android with each passing day.

Frustrating really, OS X is completely different in that regard, and is how user friendly software should be done. To the laymen, it's very standard fare, but to those who want to really mess with it, they can.
 
Spetsnazos said:
Apple deniers in full force but as a dev he is right. The only time security becomes an issue with android is with custom roms kernels and radios.

iOS just can't be customized at all. Most stock roms on android are super secure, very similar to iOS.

iOS is designed primarily for the average non Savvy user but that's fine it's a good OS for day to day tasks.
Click to expand...
As a dev of what exactly? You claim to be a developer but then you start talking about customization and custom roms.

If you had bothered to read the article before commenting, you would have seen that Android has the most malware of any mobile platform. This is the result of a lack of monitoring of what goes into the Google store and the fact that there are multiple sources for apps available.

Your much lauded customization is part of the reason why so many android devices are being infected by malware.

The review process and the fact that there is only one app store for iOS is why there is no malware. Apple's review of the apps and the BSD jails sandbox helps protect the platform from malware outbreaks.

I write this as a developer of iOS apps and a developer of multi-tier enterprise systems on the windows platform.
 
samcraig said:
Again you confuse me.

Setting up an Android phone doesn't require tweaking settings any more than an iPhone does. Can you tweak until the cows come home - sure. But it's not remotely a requirement to have a fantastic working phone out of the box.

Riddle me this. If the iPhone just works works works - why are there books on how to use them. Why so many people lined up at the Genius bar and classes at the Apple store on how to set a phone up/use it?

Have you used Android in the least year - or are you living in 2007? I'm asking seriously.
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I consider myself a tech guy. However, I frequently get lost in the Settings menu of Android phone. There is no order in this operating system. The fact that it comes with two browsers out of the box is a simple example. People dont ****ing care what browser they will use. They want just fast and intuitive browsing experiance. The same applies for mail clients, notes apps and more. Out of the box, Android comes with three pages of apps, most of them useless for most of the users. And then you have Google store or whatever it is called. Several times I had download different free apps that in two hours just block my phone with notifications and ads. And then I spend 30 min. searching how to disable the damn notification which force me to delete the app, which isnt easy task if you are new to the Android OS. In OS you just hold your finger on the app icon and press the X, thats it, its gone. The battery performace and task manager isnt that perfect also. I have to enter a separate app icon just to kill some process and when you look at the list, you dont know what service you kill. You have to look in google to find out, because the apps runs maybe dozen other background services with strange names and abreviatures. Its just so annoing, that I want to cry sometimes.

But at the end it can do all and maybe more than the iOS but every time I have to deal with it, I just want to break it in peaces. The only reason Android has a huge marketshare is because it goes with a wide range of different handset for a different price. You can buy 90$ off-contract phone with the latest version of android and 10$ for montly data plan and you are good to go. This is the only good thing in Android I have seen so far and I have used all recen Android flaship phones out there. Android can do more, but dont do ANYTHING better. So ill stick with the iPhone for the near feature.
 
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