Schmidt says Android is more secure than iPhone; everyone laughs

Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt claimed that Android is a more secure mobile operating environment than the iPhone in an interview at yesterday’s Gartner Symposium/ITxpo.

The bold claim prompted laughter from the audience. And, unfortunately for Schmidt, the laughter didn’t stop there…

After noting that Android had over a billion users, and saying that the platform has gone through rigorous real-world security testing, Schmidt then told the audience that they would be happier using services like Android, Chrome and Gmail, which prompted even more laughter.

Realising that he was probably preaching to the wrong crowd Schmidt decided to discuss some other topics, including Chinese hackers, Google management and privacy and trust issues amongst the computer industry.

There has been a number of Android security flaws and detected malware recently, including a flaw that enables rogue apps to turn legitimate apps into malicious Trojans, and an increase in “malverstising” on the Android platform.