Study into the Implications of Smartphone Operating System Security

Study into the implications of Smartphone operating system security
The importance of the consumer in the Smartphone operating system
software update process – Do they understand the process and
responsibility?
The consumer is a vital component in the Smartphone operating system update process.
The whole software update model is reliant on consumer willingness to update their
Smartphones.
There is anecdotal evidence that consumers have a mixed understanding of how
Smartphone operating system updates work, e.g. when, why, how they should update and
what the difference is between a major update and an emergency security update?
It is the belief of Goode Intelligence that the majority of Smartphone owners will feel that the
main point of contact for any Smartphone operating system question or issue will be their
MNO. In the majority of cases this view will be correct but as this report has discovered in
some cases the role of the operator in managing this process is very limited, e.g. the
differences between Android and iOS updates.
This situation is not helped by a lack of clear communication to consumers from the MNOs.
Most UK Smartphones will be purchased either directly or indirectly from MNOs to run on
their networks and there is an opportunity at the point of purchase to educate consumers as
to who is responsible for what. Education is key in ensuring that consumers know who is
responsible for what and for them to understand their own role in the operating system
update process.
There are questions over how consumers view the update process and whether they
understand the differences between the different software components of a Smartphone.
They are used to receiving regular updates for Smartphone Apps, some of which are
automatically updated each time the App Developer has an updated version to push out, but
may find it difficult to understand the difference between these updates (that don’t require
the device to power-down) and whole operating system updates.
In an interview with Darren Gale, EMEA lead for Mobile at Symantec, he gave first-hand
experience from a family member that exemplifies this issue; “some Smartphone owners are
terrified to update their devices as they are unsure as to what the end result will be. They
may have only got used to characteristics of a particular Smartphone OS version and then
are being asked to update it without knowing what the consequences are. This is a very big
challenge”.
More research needs to be carried out to gauge consumer awareness and their
understanding of the operating system software update process. There is anecdotal
evidence that consumers may be delaying updating their devices and thus increasing the
security risks of using their Smartphones. This anecdotal evidence includes:
Apple iOS device owners delaying updating to iOS 5.0 due to negative reaction to
Apple’s decision to replace Google Maps with their own mapping application
Goode Intelligence © 2013 P a g e | 71 www.goodeintelligence.com