Speaking at a Q&A session during the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Orlando, Florida, Google Executive chairman Eric Schmidt claimed Android offers the more secure mobile OS compared to Apple’s iPhone. The statement was given in response to a question focusing on public perception of the platform as less secure than its competitors, and was met with laughter from the audience, ZDNet reports.
Schmidt’s claim was prompted by industry analyst David Willis, the chief of research for mobility and communication and runs Gartner’s Senior Research Board, who argued, “If you polled many people in this audience they would say Google Android is not their principal platform […] When you say Android, people say, wait a minute, Android is not secure.”
Google’s chairman responded quickly, stating, “Not secure? It’s more secure than the iPhone.” In the followup to his initial answer, Schmidt explained Google’s emphasis on security when it comes to Android, pointing to its obligations to over a billion users, and adding that Android 4.3 brought additional security features to the operating system.
Despite Schmidt’s claims, the truth is that reports of malware sneaking onto Android smartphones through the Google Play store are more common than similar security lapses on Apple’s end through the App Store. Android fans often boast that their OS is more open, and therefore better, but Apple’s closed system also has its advantages, especially when it comes to keeping dangerous elements from getting in. While the core of Android may very well be secure, the Google Play store is still its achilles heel.
