iOS Projects Leapfrog Android

The number of projects being developed for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch has jumped this year, while Android's share of the market has dropped, according to analysts.

Flurry, a provider of in-application analytics for mobile devices, reported there was a second quarter surge in development of new software for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch in the second quarter. The report, released yesterday, states that the number of iOS projects rose to 57 percent of what developers were working on, from 54 percent in the first quarter. The number of iPad projects rose to 15 percent from 10 percent. Meanwhile, while the number of projects aimed at Google's Android OS dropped to 28 percent from 36 percent.

This is the second quarter that Apple has gained in developer interest and Android has declined; the report cites the launch of the iPad2 and the introduction of the iPhone to U.S. network Verizon as major factors.

"Apple reported that it had sold a cumulative 200 million iOS devices. Currently the App Store contains more than 425,000 apps, with total downloads surpassing 15 billion," stated the report. "From the developer's point of view, the most attractive aspect of the iOS consumer audience is that they all have credit cards on file with iTunes. This means 100% of them can seamlessly pay for apps and in-app purchases. All told, the App Store offers a powerful business opportunity to developers and has attracted leading mobile developer support."

However the report also noted that Google's more open Android OS distribution strategy has garnered the support of numerous notable OEMs. "This is spawning a rapidly growing installed base of Android devices that is gunning to overtake the iOS installed base," said the report.

Apple software running iPhones, iPads has security flaw: Germany

The software running Apple iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch has "critical weaknesses'' that could be used by criminals to access confidential data on the devices, Germany's IT security agency warned Wednesday.

Clicking on an infected PDF file ``is sufficient to infect the mobile device with malware without the user's knowledge'' on several versions of Apple's iOS operating system, the Federal Office for Information Security said.

The same could occur when opening a website that carries an infected PDF file, possibly opening the device to criminals spying on passwords, planners, photos, text messages, emails and even listen in on phone conversations.

"The weak points allow possible attackers to gain administrator rights and get access to the entire system,'' it said.

The problem may occur on all devices _ iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad, iPad 2 and the iPod Touch _ with software versions including iOS 4.3.3, and it "cannot be excluded'' that other iOS versions have the same weakness, it said.

Apple Inc. has yet to offer a patch to fix the problem, the agency added.

Apple Germany spokesman Georg Albrecht told The Associated Press he was aware of the warning, adding that Apple would not comment on it.

The agency said it was in contact with the firm regarding the security hole.

No attacks taking advantage of it have been reported so far, "but it must be expected that attackers will soon exploit the weak points,'' it said.