Author: Julie Campbell

The new operating system by Mozilla allows apps to run over the web, but some wonder if this is safe.

The latest web-centric FireFox OS is raising quite a few mobile security questions as it allows apps to be run from the web, which makes things much more convenient for many users, but that could also open the door to a massive wave of malicious software.

Malicious software designed for smartphones and tablets has been a growing problem worldwide.

The new Firefox OS has been released by Mozilla for low-end smartphones and is primarily geared toward consumers in the South American and Eastern European marketplaces. The primary mobile security concern is that it will face a number of considerable challenges in being able to protect those device users from malicious software hidden in the apps that they download and open. This is already becoming highly problematic worldwide, even before the launch of the Firefox concept.

Malicious apps have also been causing mobile security woes among Google and Apple app stores.

Even after extensive mobile security screening by those companies, the harmful applications can still slip through the cracks. Causing even more of an issue are the unofficial marketplaces for Android devices, where popular app knockoffs are among the programs with the largest reputation for being malicious.

There has been a growing response around the world to try to boost mobile security through company and individual efforts. In Mozilla’s case, it won’t be offering apps exclusively through its traditional Firefox Marketplace app store. It will also encourage developers to allow their apps to be downloaded from their own websites or to be run directly from a site. This could mean that even fewer screening procedures will be put into place before the applications are used by consumers.

This is not a first in the industry, as the practice does exist for some Android apps, though it is not at all common. The reason is that it does raise several mobile security concerns and it is preferred to keep the protection efforts more consistent. The new OS is based on HTML5 language, which will allow web apps to work in a comparable way to software on desktop computers.

A recent InMobi study has shown that while the ideal hasn’t yet been reached, progress is being made.

Although mobile marketing has yet to truly find its place in the hearts of consumers, there has certainly been a great deal of progress toward a new tolerance level if the latest research is any indication.

This recent study has shown that there is now a comfort level with around sixty percent of consumers.

The research was performed by InMobi, which found that about 6 out of every 10 consumers would now call themselves as “comfortable” with the mobile marketing that they have been receiving on their smartphones and tablets as they are with the ads they see through other channels.

This comes at the same time that there has been a growing concern over the usability of mobile marketing.

The so-called “fat finger” problem has recently been raising concerns over the ability to trust mobile marketing statistics, as many ads that are clicked on these smaller screens could often tapped by accident. However, what InMobi discovered was that only 15 percent of the device users who accessed the web had unintentionally clicked on an ad.

Possibly even more striking is the fact that mobile marketing has played a role in the shopping decisions of 46 percent of the respondents to the survey. They stated that they had decided to make a purchase of a product or service over their device because of an ad they had seen.

The InMobi CEO, Naveen Tewari, explained that smartphones, tablets, and other portable communication devices are now a part of virtually every element of our daily lives. Tweari also went on to say that “The study reveals that mobile users are always-on, whether surfing the mobile web while spending time with family (48 percent), at a social event (45 percent), commuting (60 percent) and shopping (43 percent). This creates a huge opportunity for brands and marketers to engage with consumers throughout the day unlike traditional advertising like print and TV.”

The mobile marketing report indicated that the average user of the mobile web consumers 7 full hours of media every day. Twenty six percent of this time – a figure that is growing – is spent on the smartphone or tablet.