Join our iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Apple TV community today! Register Here | Login

Google Android iClones iPhone App Store Kill Switch!

By , Thursday, Oct 16, 2008 at 9:30 am
6

Title says it all, and you know what? Good for Google. While the holier-than-geek community criticizes Apple's admittedly adamantium grip on the iPhone App Store while raving about the "open platform" of Google's Android, the harsh realities of internet existence -- including malicious code and apps -- means that no playground can be entirely free of adult supervision, lest it quickly degenerate into Lord of the Flies land. Says Computerworld (via Macrumors):

In the Android Market terms of service, Google expressly says that it might remotely remove an application from user phones. "Google may discover a product that violates the developer distribution agreement ... in such an instance, Google retains the right to remotely remove those applications from your device at its sole discretion," the terms, linked to from the phone, read.

Allowing all sorts of background and music/media Apps that Apple would never allow is a great move for consumers -- and for putting competitive pressure on Apple to do likewise. Making sure they have some precautions in place, however, is a responsible move on Google's part.

Rene Ritchie

Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.

More Posts - Website

 TwitterFacebookGoogle Plus

← Previously

Blog vs. Blog: Is Steve Leaving Apple? Giz Says Yes! DF Says Nope!

Next up →

How To: Tether your Laptop with an iPhone and PdaNet
  1. Keil Miller says:

    I do not want anyone removing an app of mine besides myself. Period.

  2. nick says:

    The Kill Switch. Often imitated but never duplicated

  3. samuel says:

    and doesn't apple already have something to this effect? Maybe not the power at the moment, but of course could be introduced with a firmware update. They have got that list of banned apps on their servers, which at this point in time does not have any apps banned.

    Samuel

  4. rob says:

    I agree. My guess is that this will be a non-issue. That clause is not some sort of orwellian control, but rather to provide security to the networks used by the phones. Could it be that there is so much press about this because there isn't much else to report about Android right now?

  5. SME says:

    D.N.G.N.W.

  6. Im glad I located this blog site, I couldnt discover any info on this subject matter prior to. I also operate a website and for anyone who is ever interested in doing a bit of guest writing for me you should feel free to let me know, i'm always look for people to check out my blog site. Please stop by and leave a comment sometime!

Leave a Reply

Note: Comments must be civil, respectful, and on-topic. If a comment does not add to the conversation, if it contains spam advertising, or inappropriate language or content, it will be removed. Insulting the topic, author, staff, site, network, or other commenters will result in the comment being marked as spam and potential prevent future comments from appearing on the site. Do not post as a business or your comment will likely be confused with spam. Comments containing links may be held for moderation. Relax, enjoy, and share in the discussion.