iPhone AntiVirus, AntiMalware is coming. Do we need it?

Ok, if you ever used those symbian phones, you probably have felt the need of Antivirus on mobile platform. There are 100s and 1000s of sources for .sis installer files with no trusted signing authority. (even signed apps have malware).

Antivirus software maker AVG has outlined plans to deliver malware protection for the iPhone by the end of 2010. I have two questions: 1. Is it needed?  and 2. Will it ruin the iPhone experience?

Smith from AVG product development said:

“I’d love to see it towards the end of next year, Really, it’s less about AV [and more to do with] protecting and stopping anything from getting on there, in real-time. [Malware creators] will use the Web to propagate on to these devices as much as they possibly can.”

Hmmm, I’m sure that anti-malware, ant-virus on the iPhone is a bad idea. Overall I’m just not convinced that the protection/performance trade off is worth it. Even if you ignore this fact, look at the more important point:

Is there a Need?

Look at the current Application strategy. All apps that exist in this world for iPhone come through our common gateway App Store (forget jailbroken apps for a minute). App Store is strict when it comes to policies, and proof is the BIG list of rejected apps, because of violations. It’s totally illogical to have antivirus int he current scenario.

For the Jailbroken world, since last 2 years, I haven’t seen any malware, virus application being produced.  May be iPhone developers haven’t yet thought of being destructive. They love the platform so much that they have no bad intentions for it. But future can bring bad stuff as the platform becomes more n more powerful. But Jailbreaking isn’t an Official thing. The day you do it, you lose your warranty, so Apple isn’t bothered about what happens to your OS after that.

Best thing for AVG would be to make it to App Store and be a must have for Jailbroken iPhones. Sounds Ironical, App Store solution to Jailbreaking, but it would be make more sense in the future.