Comments on: Apple Can Remotely Remove Bad Apps From Your iPhone

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:08:29 +0000

One second you’re reading an article on your phone about how Apple price gouges, the next second, the article disappears

That gave me a good laugh.

Pieter wrote:

Bye bye, NetShare?

Nah, if they remove NetShare from everyone’s phone there will definitely be a backlash on them. They are the ones that posted it, and the only reason they’d be removing it is to cover up their mistake. If the app was malicious that would be a different story.

By: Pieter

Pieter — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:57:41 +0000

Bye bye, NetShare?

I am sick of Apple being like an obsessed girlfriend that wants to control everything… but I can’t give up my shiny iPod touch. Ugh.

By: Michael Dobrofsky

Michael Dobrofsky — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:52:08 +0000

One second you’re reading an article on your phone about how Apple price gouges, the next second, the article disappears

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:31:05 +0000

AndyDrum wrote:

it would be very different if the file system was open.

(the image in ryan’s above link is rather ironic for this story)

Very true, and I was thinking the same thing about the image when I pulled up the article.

By: AndyDrum

AndyDrum — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:23:50 +0000

it would be very different if the file system was open.

(the image in ryan’s above link is rather ironic for this story)

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:02:03 +0000

AndyDrum wrote:

On the other hand, I would not be happy if tomorrow Microsoft remotely removed Office from my computer, and along with it all my documents. People are using their iPhones like a PDA/small computer. I feel like Apple is toeing a fine line between a great idea and intrusion here.

You’re definitely right, and I think that’s why Apple would never be so stupid to remove something that wasn’t seriously malicious (like sending your list of contacts to a remote server who then spams your friends). The backlash they’d get from removing an app for a non-security related reason would be virtually unbearable.

P.S. Mozilla actually does something like this with their extensions as well. [cybernetnews.com]

By: AndyDrum

AndyDrum — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:08:15 +0000

For me, it’s not a big deal if there is an iPhone virus. I read enough blogs to find out. But I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that need a little help keeping their phones clean (hence the above URL).

On the other hand, I would not be happy if tomorrow Microsoft remotely removed Office from my computer, and along with it all my documents. People are using their iPhones like a PDA/small computer. I feel like Apple is toeing a fine line between a great idea and intrusion here.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:57:37 +0000

Definitely, a per-application back-up system would be really nice. I wouldn’t think it would be that hard for Apple to offer something like this either.

By: Teodor Filimon

Teodor Filimon — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:22:52 +0000

I think this is good, you kind of have your own online antivirus + something like this is necessary after the approval of an app and its distribution to all the users; simply removing an app from the store won’t take care of all the people who have installed it, this way it gets removed.

However, even if i like this kind of automation very much, there might be certain apps users will depend on (to-do lists, etc.). I’ve never used an iPhone before but my guess is the user data pertaining to that app will be deleted too, some kind of a backup should be offered?