‘Google’ Wants Security Update For All 1.4 Billion ‘Android’ Users Or Else

It seems that “Google” is gearing up to release a list of smartphone makers using their “Android” operating system (OS) who are not providing their users with the regular security updates that they are supposed to be getting. This is according to an article by Bloomberg, which reports that this tardiness on the part of the smartphone makers is one of the biggest challenges that “Google” has to deal with regarding their OS.

Known in the software industry as “fragmentation,” the issue of the numerous smartphone makers not providing the necessary updates to their users in a uniform manner has long plagued “Google.” These updates are important because they make smartphones much more difficult to hack and provide more effective protection regarding the private information of users.

To put this in perspective, only 7.5 percent of “Android” devices used by over 1.4 billion users have the latest version called “Marshmallow” installed. In comparison, 84 percent of “Apple” devices are using their latest iOS. This means that as many as 93 percent of “Android” users are still at risk of bugs, software issues, and security threats that the updates were meant to fix.

Among the biggest concerns for “Google” is the possibility that the heightened security risk could force users to turn to “Apple” in droves, which has shown how far it is willing to go to protect customer privacy. If “Google” is unable to address this situation, it could be looking at a tremendous loss in revenue.

While covering the issue, Fortune indicated that “a little shaming could go a long way,” which looks at the option of releasing the list of negligent smartphone makers as a viable solution to “Google’s” problem. The article also pointed out that that the tech company has very few options left to them anyway, despite their many attempts to fix “fragmentation” in the past.