Imagine leaving your mobile phone at home on a busy weekday morning.

Terrible? Yes, but a virus-infected handset might be worse. Just imagine if your handset is flooded with junk messages, or if your address book and information disappears, or, worse still, if you cannot stop the automatically dialed phone calls and you have to pay for the calls.

Beware! Viruses once limited to computers are now targetting mobile phones. Although it is a small threat at present, a mobile phone virus could be more malicious than a computer virus, especially when smart phones become prominent, experts warn.

"People should be aware data in their mobile phones are no longer safe," said Qi Jun, technological consultant with TrendMicro China's marketing division.

TrendMicro is one of the world's leading anti-virus solutions providers.

"Emerging viruses spreading among mobile phones could render your handset useless."

A recently discovered mobile phone virus, dubbed Lascos.A, can spread via the short-range wireless bluetooth technology, and also by attaching itself to files, especially among Symbian-based handsets.

The virus is widely believed to be more dangerous than its previous counterparts, which spread either via Bluetooth or by attaching itself to files in mobile phones.

Skulls.D, another recently discovered mobile phone Trojan virus, also infects Symbian-based handsets.

Symbian one of the four major operating systems (OS) for smart phones, with Windows, Palm and Linux is widely adopted by leading handset makers, including Nokia, Siemens and Motorola.

"Several viruses have been found so far, but the situation is not yet serious," Qi said.

"Mobile phone viruses, over the coming two years, are unlikely to break out on a large scale, like the way computer viruses have through the Internet."

Three conditions must be met for a mobile phone virus to spread: A unified OS platform; compatible hardware, such as CPUs (central processing units); and cheap access to the Internet, said Ma Jie, a technological consultant with Rising Software's marketing division.

Rising is a leading Chinese security solutions provider.

Ordinary, non-smart cellphones vary from one another in OS and hardware. As a result, a mobile phone virus can only spread among certain models of handsets, Ma said.

Smart phones, however, open their doors wide to viruses, as the unified platform and compatible CPUs turn them into minicomputers.

"The growth of mobile phone viruses worldwide will be in line with the popularity of smart phones," Qi said.

The pending 3G (third-generation) technology is widely expected to reduce the costs of Internet-based services on mobile phones. That will bring an increasing number of handset users to the Internet, Ma said.

Leading global handset makers are transferring their production lines to smart phones, and an increasing number of users, especially business people, are showing a preference for smart phones.

"Smart phones will soon become affordable for ordinary users, and when people update their old phones with smart phones, mobile phone viruses will no longer be a concept," Qi said.

"Mobile phone viruses will be more threatening than computer viruses."

There are, by far, more mobile phone users than computer users, and many cellphone users, especially the aged and people with little understanding about such matters, will not know how to protect their handsets, he added.

The world's first mobile phone virus was unleashed in Spain in 2000. In China, the first such incident was discovered last November, when "Cabir" spread among several models of smart phones. The virus began in Shanghai.

TrendMicro has been negotiating with some 3G handset makers about applications that may be under virus attacks, Qi said.

Last December, TrendMicro launched an anti-virus software specially designed for Symbian-based smart phones.

"We are prepared to officially promote the product in China in March," Qi said.

Rising developed an anti-virus software for PDA/Palm in 2002, and one for smart phones last year, Ma said. The firm has not marketed the software.

Kingsoft, another leading Chinese software maker, is conducting research ahead of developing an anti-virus software for mobile phones. The firm is not ready to launch its product in the near future, as "demand is not strong enough to turn it into business," said Liu Fei, a technological consultant with Kingsoft's marketing division.

Mobile phones commonly are infected when their users download content such as multimedia messages, games or ringtones from wireless services, especially the Internet.

In some cases, the viruses are disguised in the content.

Consultants agree the viruses are commonly found on illegal websites. They suggest cellphone users download content only from officially approved websites. They also suggest people disable their phones' Bluetooth function when not in use.

China had 313 million mobile phone users by the end of last November. That number is expected to exceed 400 million by the end of this year, indicates the Ministry of Information Industry.

Statistics released by CCID Consulting, China's leading market research house, indicate China's market for smart phones will grow 46.3 per cent annually, to hit 39.8 billion yuan (US$4.80 billion) by the end of 2008.

(Business Weekly 01/26/2005 page15)