In an interview with Nick Wingfield appearing in the Wall Street Journal, Steve Job says Apple would be “Irresponsible” not to have a kill switch to stop malicious apps that may make it onto your phone through the app store. (Wasn’t that what the whole vetting process was for??)
Also, he throws some app sales numbers around. They look good. $30 million in the first month, spent on apps (so about $10 million earned by Apple).
Enjoy the reading; it’s an interesting article.
Kill switch, News, sales, Steve Jobs
That’s what “they” are calling it. It’s a hidden iPhone app that retrieves a list of blacklisted apps from Apple, and stores them on the phone (that’s my simpleton understanding of it). For what purpose, it hasn’t been determined. But among other things, the guy who found it—researcher Jonathan Zdziarski—says it could be used to kill apps that Apple doesn’t want on your iPhone. Here’s his blog, where you can read Zdziarski’s take on the app and the rumors flying around it:
http://www.zdziarski.com/
I myself am intrigued by his pancake theory.
UPDATE: It’s being widely reported now that this is for killing malicious apps useing locations services without authorization. Why it couldn’t be used for just killing apps that Apple wants, I don’t see. It still sets a dangerous precident in my eyes.
Kill switch, Zdziarski
