Released: June 24, 2008

Cellphone security seen as profit frontier

Source: Byron Acohido, USA Today

The race is on to get businesses and consumers to pay for security for their cellphone the way they do for their PCs.

Tech security companies see a lucrative emerging market for cellphone security products. Researcher IDC predicts businesses and consumers will spend $958 million by 2011, up from $214 million in 2006 spent mostly by corporations. Symantec, Kaspersky Lab, Trend Micro and others have stepped up consumer marketing of anti-virus subscriptions for mobile devices. Typical annual cost: about $30.

Security firms are also pitching more elaborate protections to corporate buyers. “Mobile devices represent the most porous piece of the IT infrastructure,” says Jeff Aliber, senior director of anti-virus supplier Kaspersky Lab.

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