I have kids. I'm happy they _always_ ask for a password... Free apps can be malicious e.g giving away location to parties unknown. But still you're right - this could be an option users can decide.
This is part of a deeper problem with most mobile OSes.
I might give my phone to somebody so they can make a quick call or look something up online.
However, I don't really want them being able to dig through my history or be automatically logged into my email etc.
If I had a child I'd want to be able to let them use my phone but only in a special mode that allowed access to a limited number of whitelisted websites & apps.
I'd like my phone to offer a few different "shells" of access:
- Emergency calls.
- "Share" or "play" mode. Selected photos or apps.
- "Mobile" -- ready access to stuff I need, but not distractions (the "Car Panel" on some Android phones is somewhat like this, but I'd appreciate if it didn't encourage use while driving).
- "Full" complete and potentially immersive access.
There are currently a few projects ongoing with enabling VMs on smartphones. The way it was thought is that you would put your corporate stuff on a protected VM that would have no external app install, and the rest (games, social networks...) would be on the "fun" VM. That way, the company data would be better protected.
