Big Brother Apple
By Davey Winder in Editorial
Look, I make no bones about it, I have grown to like the iPhone but Apple has left me feeling pretty poorly treated to the core. I mean, the whole version 2 software upgrade lockout thing and the MobileMe storm in the computing clouds were hardly great customer service success stories were they? Then there’s this iPhone kill switch debacle which could see users applications, bought and paid for, switched off remotely by Apple for whatever reason they choose.
Yet nothing seems to be able to stop the Apple revolution, at least as far as the iPhone is concerned. The Wall Street Journal interviewed Steve Jobs and the Apple CEO reckons that sales of iPhone software alone will hit something like £180 million ($360m) this year. Jobs even predicts that a billion dollars worth of iPhone applications sold is possible at some point in time.
Looking at the figures, or at least the numbers that Jobs refers to in that interview, it’s easy to see why he is so buoyant. Jobs says there have been 60 million application downloads in just over a month since the App Store opened its virtual doors. Oh, and made something in the region of £30 million for good measure.
But I’m still concerned about that damn kill switch, especially now that Jobs has confirmed it exists and essentially said it has to have such a thing in case a malicious application managed to get itself distributed through the App Store and onto users iPhones.
Uh huh, really Steve, is that right? Can Apple really get away with anything because its kit looks so damn sexy? Seems that way. Can you imagine the fury that would be unleashed if Ballmer was to announce a kill switch in Vista that allowed Microsoft to remotely deactivate the software you had plaid for and installed, for your own good…
Rated: 100% (1 votes)
Loading ...Comment by Dan Jones - August 11, 2008 on 2:37 pm
I think the thing with this is it depends on the use of the kill switch. If its only used to kill Spyware containing or similar software, all is good. If however its used to kill apps that contain no malicious code then er, no, I’d not be a happy punter.
If apple want to play the game well, they should hand the kill-switch over to a reputable 3rd party security testing firm and actually make good press out of the entire debacle. Apple could of course submit their requests to said firm if they spot a bad “Apple” application.. but they should not hold the power themselves.
Being honest I believe having a kill switch maintained by a reputable party even for Windows would help with the sheep who install Spyware and trojan ridden file-sharing applications on their PC’s in the Vista world also… I hate to think of how many of my friends machines I’ve disinfected as they simply did not know enough to avoid getting infected…. despite AV being in place.
Comment by Davey Winder - August 11, 2008 on 2:50 pm
I think it comes down to a bloody huge IF though.
As well as the precise definition of malicious of course.
Comment by zato - August 12, 2008 on 6:35 am
“Yet nothing seems to be able to stop the Apple revolution”
Certainly not lying 2 digit gamer/haters.
“Can you imagine the fury that would be unleashed if Ballmer was to announce a kill switch in Vista”
Why would Microsoft want to kill malware on computers when they can get the suckers to pay to have it removed and then pay Microsoft protection money for the rest of their lives.
Comment by TaoistTotty - August 12, 2008 on 12:58 pm
This does seem rather like big brother.
How long before someone else gets access to this and starts turning important applications off?
Does the user, or the creator of the software have a right of appeal?
Comment by james - October 24, 2008 on 11:17 am
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