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Search engine Google has announced a new open source development platform for mobile phones.

The Android platform, a result of collaboration between Google, T-Mobile and Motorola, among others, will allow developers to create software for a wide range of mobile devices and comes after much speculation over the rumoured launch of a specific Google phone.

It comprises an operating system, middleware and a user-friendly interface and applications and has been launched with the aim of lowering the cost of mobile handsets and other gadgets for both businesses and consumers.

A total of 34 companies have joined to form the Open Handset Alliance, with the first handsets utilising technologies from the initiative set to launch during the second half of 2008.

‘Today’s announcement is more ambitious than any single ‘Google Phone’ that the press has been speculating about over the past few weeks,’ commented Google chairman and chief executive Eric Schmidt.

‘Our vision is that the powerful platform we’re unveiling will power thousands of different phone models.’

The announcement came shortly after Google announced the release of its OpenSocial platform, which will allow developers to come up with social networking applications for use across the web.

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Widgets and gadgets that users add on to their PCs could pose a security threat, according to Finnish security company Finjan.

Finjan’s Malicious Code Research Centre has found that add-ons that add functions to websites contain code which make the PC they are on more vulnerable to hackers.

The security model that gadgets and widgets have must now be completely revised to take these findings into account, Finjan stated.

Finjan chief technology officer Yuval Ben-Itzhak said: ‘As widgets become common in most modern computing environments, from operating system to web portals, their significance from a security standpoint rises.’

He added: ‘Vulnerabilities in widgets and gadgets enable attackers to gain control of user machines, and thus should be developed with security in mind.’

Corporations may need to deal with a ‘vast array’ of new security considerations, added Mr Ben-Itzhak.

Meanwhile, a new report from Symantec has warned that internet crime has gone from simply causing trouble to a multi-million pound industry.

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