Norwalk-based Defentect Group has expanded into the Android Marketplace in hopes of reaching a larger portion of the population.
Defentect, which provides and develops threat-detection software, has had the application version of its software available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users since last spring. The application called DefenCall will now be available for the Android operating system.
“DefenCall”™s availability to both iPhone and Android users is vital to our marketing efforts in other areas, such as the colleges and universities,” James Ackerly, CEO of Defentect Group, said in a statement. “Statistics show that Android and Apple users easily make up more than half of the population of these schools. Android will be key to our acceptance in that market.”
DefenCall allows a user in an emergency to make phone calls and send text messages and emails automatically to designated contacts and first responders, who in turn receive the user”™s name, contact information and GPS location.
According to Ackerly, with the availability of iPhones on the Verizon network and the addition of the Android devices, the market size available to DefenCall will more than double in size.
According to statistics released in November 2010 by The Nielsen Co. on overall U.S. market share of smartphone operating systems, Android is the single fastest-growing mobile platform. By contrast, Apple”™s iOS showed a slight decline, as Andriod catches up, but remains the largest in market share.
Other operating systems, including BlackBerry and Windows Mobile, show sharp declines over the past quarter. Android has 19 percent of the mobile operating system market, while Apple”™s iOS smartphone has 28 percent.
“We want to enable as many people as possible to have access to help in the event of an emergency,” said Ackerly. “Our recent strategic efforts have resulted in our platform being marketed beyond the scope of radiation detection.”