Remember when you found out that Apple had implemented a kill switch on the iPhone? Many iPhone fans weren’t overly happy that Apple could remotely remove apps and software that they thought inappropiate or just downright malicious. Yeah, I admit it takes some of the fun out of owning the iPhone but at the same time Apple were minimising the risk of lawsuits along the lines of “iPhone ate hamster”.

The Apple kill switch is old news. The Android kill switch is new news.

A report from Computerworld suggests that Android software has a very similar feature built into it. The article states that Google expressly says that they reserve the right to remotely kill off apps running on a users handset. A little bit too Big Brother for you? Reading into the article it appears the kill functionality is designed to protect Google and users alike - in the same way as the iPhone kill switch. In practice, Google is likely to remove apps that infringe on licensing or development agreements rather than removing your will to browse!
Interestingly, once the kill switch info was publicised, Google didn’t seem to receive much in the way of consumer vitriol; unlike Apple. Then again, it’s a fairly recent news event - it’ll take time for the information to filter down. At the end of the day, open or closed source doesn’t mean a thing. If you want to keep customers sweet tell them the truth from the outset.

Popularity: 24% [?]