Android Applications Example Application

with existing online services. However, as the importance of the data and services our cell phones support increases, so too do the opportunities for vulnerability. It’s essential that this next generation of platforms provides a comprehensive and usable security infrastructure. Developed by the Open Handset Alliance (visibly led by Google), Android is a widely anticipated open source operating system for mobile devices that provides a base operating system, an application middleware layer, a Java software development kit (SDK), and a collection of system applications. Although the Android SDK has been available since late 2007, the !rst publicly available Androidready “G1” phone debuted in late October 2008. Since then, Android’s growth has been phenomenal: T-Mobile’s G1 manufacturer HTC estimates shipment volumes of more than 1 million phones by the end of 2008, and industry insiders expect public adoption to increase steeply in 2009. Many other cell phone providers have either promised or plan to support it in the near future. A large community of developers has organized around Android, and many new products and applications are now available for it. One of Android’s chief selling points is that it lets developers seamlessly extend online services to phones. The most visible example of this feature is, unsurprisingly, the tight integration of Google’s Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts Web applications with system utilities. Android users simply supply a username and password, and their phones automatically synchronize with Google services. Other vendors are rapidly adapting their existing instant messaging, social networks, and gaming services to Android, and many enterprises are looking for ways to integrate their own internal operations (such as inventory management, purchasing, receiving, and so forth) into it as well. Traditional desktop and server operating systems have struggled to securely integrate such personal and business applications and services on a single platform. Although doing so on a mobile platform such as Android remains nontrivial, many researchers hope it provides a clean slate devoid of the complications that legacy software can cause. Android doesn’t o"cially support applications developed for other platforms: applications execute on top of a Java WILLIAM ENCK, MACHIGAR ONGTANG, AND PATRICK MCDANIEL Pennsylvania State University T he next generation of open operating systems won’t be on desktops or mainframes but on the