Kill Switch for All

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There has been a bit of news surrounding the finding of a "bad Apps database" for the iPhone, giving Apple a "Kill switch" option for any dodgy apps released into the iPhone.  Flack was fired at the Apple, but apart from keeping the company and the product in the news headlines, there doesn't seem to have been much effect.

Those who hoped the Google Phone (G1) was going to be a saviour from the new "restrictive" ways of Apple were sadly mistaken, after the discovery of Google's own "Kill switch".  Why are we so surprised that Google would have such a feature in their phone?  They have three good reasons - platform reliability, customer support, and finally, "Apple got away with it".

I was listening to the latest 1Up Yours Podcast (Gaming) to the discussion about the techniques gaming companies use to part us from our cash.  The point was made that with each generation, gamers become more de-sensitised to what, in previous generations, would never have been accepted.  Frog in boiling water scenario, anyone?  And guess what, gaming has many parallels with the tech industry, especially with the PDA battle going on at the moment.

Apple give us a great user experience, far better than the Windows mobile, or any other traditional offerings.  For us to have that great experience, though, Apple needed to lock down and restrict the hardware and software.  This annoyed a vocal few, but everyone else is too busy being cool to care.  Of course, Google know this (remember that Google know everything) and it would be silly of them to take a complete backward step over the ground that Apple has made with the iPhone.

Keeping the above in mind, the penetration of the kill switch may, in a few years, switch from the mobile phone, where it does have its place, to other, more open, platforms.  Anyones guess who will offer it first, but imagine Apple offering developers a platform where all pirated software could be remotely deleted?  I'm sure there would be a major customer shift to Windows if they implemented it, but guess where all the new tricked-out software would be found?  Adobe and others would shift to the platform that gives them the best security and quality for their customers who pony up for their software.

You're right, it probably won't happen.  In fact, I'm sure there will be hack for the Kill Switch on the G1 pretty soon, mainly because of its openness.

But is that a good thing?  Will you be trusting your data to a possibly unsafe platform? Or would you prefer a closed secure platform?  I don't really think Apple would do it, they have more to lose.  But if Microsoft offered it as part of a new cloud-based platform, I could see a shift in the playing field.....

Jason Remnant

..if it is Broken, why fix it?

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