Symantec Adds Norton One Membership Option

By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 2/15/2012

Mountain View, Calif. - Symantec will introduce three new security titles today, including a membership/subscription service that will offer members higher levels of customer service.

Called Norton One, the $149 per year membership fee entitles a customer to a higher-level of customer service along with the access to a variety of Norton Internet Security products. Symantec launched this today as part of a pilot program with wider distribution slated for this spring. Pricing has not been determined.

Norton One will give customers access to an advisor with two minutes every day, all year.

The other new products are Norton 360 and Norton 360 Everywhere. The former is on sale starting today, while Everywhere will launch in the spring.

Norton One gives customers the opportunity to put together a security package geared toward the products they own, said Jordan Blake, Symantec's senior product manager. This solves what Symantec found to be a major customer complaint: confusion over having to protect a variety of products that use different platforms and operating systems.

Customers can choose from Norton 360 version 6.0, Norton Internet Security 2012, Norton Internet Security for Mac, Norton Mobile Security and receive 25GB of online storage.

On the device side Norton One members can add or remove up to five devices and add more for an additional pro-rated cost.

Blake said the most important aspect of Norton One is the expanded customer service. Symantec promises to have the member on the phone or connected with an advisor within two minutes, every day all year. These advisors can answer questions or directly access a computer or mobile device to fix a security issue like malware, Blake said.

"We want members to call in," Blake said.

Symantec has also expanded its mobile security offering into a new product called Norton 360 Everywhere. This title allows customers to protect between three and five devices including computers, tablets and smartphones using any operating system. All are protected using just one licensing key. The software can be downloaded onto a computer via a CD and tablets and smartphones can downloaded it via the web or an included QR code graphic.

"We are seeing issues across platforms, but there is more malware on Android," said Collin Davis, Symantec's senior director, engineering.

Apple's ability to more fully control what is posted to its app store enables it to keep malware infested apps out. However, Davis said iOS devices are still susceptible to phishing scams so they do still need a high level of protection.

Norton 360 6.0, $89, can be installed on up to three computers. It launches on Feb. 15.