The acquisitions of Odyssey and Nukona reflect how the mobile security market is shifting from a dozen or so small vendors to major ones buying their way into the market. Until the latest acquisitions, McAfee, which bought mobile management vendor Trust Digital in 2010, had an edge over Symantec. "Symantec has kind of been a little bit behind the eight ball in the sense that it didn't have a strong mobile play," Gold said. The ball is now in McAfee's court, and it's expected to respond quickly.

In the meantime, Symantec has lots to do on the integration front. With so much technology coming from the outside, it will have to be merged with the rest of its portfolio, particularly in the management layer.

Customers are better served when they are able to manage all end-point security for desktops, laptops and mobile devices through one console. "Symantec has made a number of visionary investments for its EPP (endpoint protection platforms) solution; however, it has not provided fast integration for its various acquisitions," the research firm Gartner said in a report released in January.

in CSOonline's Wireless/Mobile Security section.