“Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, has confirmed there is a ‘kill switch’ built into the iPhone [operating system] that allows Apple to remotely delete malicious or inappropriate applications stored on the device,” Claudine Beaumont reports for The Telegraph.
“iPhone and iPod touch owners are able to install additional software on their devices purchased from the Apple Application Store,” Beaumont reports.
“Mr Jobs insisted that the so-called ‘kill switch’ was there as a precaution, rather than a function that was routinely used,” Beaumont reports. “‘Hopefully we never have to pull that lever, but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull,’ said Mr Jobs.”
“Mr Jobs also announced that in the month since the iPhone 3G was released and the Application Store launched, around 60 million applications had been downloaded for the iPhone and iPod touch,” Beaumont reports.
Full article here.
Reportedly, the “kill switch” found last week (please see related article below) would allow Apple to block access to Core Location (GPS) for misbehaving apps. Whether or not Jobs was referencing that ability or another undiscovered “kill switch” is unknown.