The Symbian Signed programme, which is designed to authenticate and test third-party applications against industry-agreed quality guidelines, will now include virus scanning to provide additional confidence to network operators and consumers.

Symbian develops Symbian OS, the open mobile operating system for advanced mobile phones, also known as smartphones, which is licensed to handset manufacturers.

The growing Symbian developer community and increasing volume of shipped Symbian smartphones to over 70m to date has driven the number of commercially available applications to over 5 300. During the second half of 2006, all applications and content submitted for Symbian Signed certification will automatically be scanned using the McAfee anti-virus engine before being passed on to the certification stage.

Symbian Signed is the markets most successful mobile certification programme and is driven by constant innovation and market evolution that involves the whole value chain, says Simon Garth, vice-president, marketing, Symbian. In response to the rise in demand for third-party applications and Symbian smartphones, developers are creating a broad range of solutions which leverage the rich features and functionality offered by Symbian OS.

The inclusion of McAfee anti-virus detection prior to the Symbian Signed certification process enables application vendors, operators and enterprises to offer their customers enhanced confidence in the source and stability of the applications they choose and use.

Says Chris van Niekerk, regional director of McAfee SA: Unlike the PC environment, where McAfee is finding new viruses every day, the threat to mobile phones is still extremely low. However, as the features and complexity of modern mobile operating systems advance, and Symbian smartphones become increasingly more popular, so must the ways in which they are protected.