The odds are pretty good that if you’re a big consumer of mobile apps, the private information on your phone has been collected and sent somewhere without your knowledge.

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That’s a scary thought for consumers and a tantalizing one for attorneys in the small but growing arena of apps security. San Francisco-based Lookout says in its Apps Genome project report that 1 in 3 free iPhone apps and 3 in 10 free apps on Android access the location of the phone user. The report also says that 14% of iPhone apps extract personal information, as do 8% of Android apps.

Permission may be written into the user agreement, but is it prominent enough? And what assurances do apps makers give that the information will be both protected from hackers and not shared without the user’s permission?

We already have read horror stories about how corporations such as Monster, Second Life and Hell’s Pizza have had their customer databases hacked. While we may feel better that Apple vets its apps, Android apps come from an unrestricted market.

An iPhone has been breached, and so it’s a matter of time before snoopers find their way into the databases of legitimate apps makers and operators. The people who gave permission — and especially the people who did not — may have cause for action. How large could damages be? How well insured or solvent are some apps makers whose software contains flaws? And is there any third-party liability from companies that sell tools for building faulty apps?

Small, inconsequential breaches will likely not produce large damage claims, but could set import precedents for manufacturers, software developers, systems managers and data warehousers. Watch for the full report from Lookout and keep an eye on the dockets.

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But why sign up for yet another social networking site?  Well, Google Buzz is different. It serves as a way to meld social networks in an all-in-one location, pulling the user’s activity from sites such as Twitter, Flickr, and Picasa.  Buzz is partly designed to mimic Twitter’s micro-blogging structure. The service also features features  privacy settings like those on Facebook, making user content available only to friends, for example.

Google says Buzz will also be available to mobile devices, including the iPhone.  Features will include voice-recognition posting and a GPS-enabled ability to attach the user’s location to posts.  Other expansions will likely include enabling users to post to Twitter accounts through a Buzz tool.

According to CNN.com, it appears that Google would also like to displace AOL Instant Messenger from its hold as the leading instant messaging service now that the Gchat (aka Google Talk) feature on Gmail has attracted so many users.  Buzz plans to target those users is by offering the Buzz feature to companies as a tool for interoffice communication.  Google thinks their new program could globally businesses communication.

Google claims the new products are a respond to users’ interests. The company is taking a new approach by socializing the Web, meaning that searches will be as social as the Web itself according to Google’s instructional online video.  However, there will be limitations;  Facebook users whose profiles are private will not be viewable via Buzz.

It will be interesting to see how Google Wave will be integrated into all of this.  Keep a lookout for Google making news headlines as it continues its ambitious ways.

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Analysts have said that mobile app stores in 2010 will experience more than 4.5 billion downloads, with about 80% of those being free to end users.  Games remain the most popular apps purchased.

As the industry grows, consumers will continue to experiment with downloads.  Apps for social networking, shopping, as well as productivity and utilities continue to grow and garner more money as smartphone mobile devices with Internet and app capabilities expand.

Gartner says that as the market becomes more saturated with cheaper smartphones, users will become less tech-savvy and more hesitant to pay for apps.  As a result, the firm thinks  that advertising sponsors will see growth.

By 2013, the company expects about 25% of revenues will come from paid-for apps and advertising-sponsored free apps as the industry will likely become more advertising and sponsorship based.

App developers will need to find not just the right revenue model, but the the right platforms.  The professionals at appslawblog can answer questions about how to get an app-based business off the ground. Contact them through this site.

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