  This article introduces a distributed model of trust for app developers in
Android and iOS mobile ecosystems. The model aims to allow the co-existence of
multiple app stores and distribution channels while retaining a high level of
safety for mobile device users and minimum changes to current mobile operating
systems. The Developers Certification Model (DCM) is a trust model for Android
and iOS that aims to distinguish legit applications from security threats to
user safeness by answering the question: "is the developer of this app
trustable"? It proposes security by design, where safety relies on a chain of
trust mapping real-world levels of trust across organizations. For the
technical implementation, DCM is heavily inspired by SSL/TLS certification
protocol, as a proven model that has been working for over 30 years.
