You're New iPhone Has The Ability to ... KILL YOU!

Classes have started, Intramural is beginning, and the cold weather is on its way to Rochester. This all means that the RIT campus has all of its students back, everyone and their new iPhone. As most of you know I have never liked any generation of iPod or most of Apple's hardware. There is a long list of reasons why this is the case, which I will not get into right now. If you want to know why then just ask me. Anyways coming to my next point. It seems like everyone has one of the new iPhones or an iTouch. When I say everyone I don't really mean everyone because I know many people like myself that do not own one. If you know anything about the new iPhone you need to know this ... that it can "kill" you! Yes, I said that your new beloved $300+ toy can "kill" you. Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, confirmed that the new iPhone has secret code hidden in the file system that has one purpose and that is to "kill" anyone that is using the device. His admission came a couple days after a software developer found this code buried in the iPhone's operating system files.

This hidden code will not enable your iPhone or iTouch to physically "kill" you, but what it will do is kill the software on your device. If you own one then you know that you have the ability to install additional software on your device purchased from the Apple Application Store. This means that you can customize your new media player to your liking with games and other useful programs. Many of these programs are free or available for a small service charge. This "kill switch" has the ability to blacklist an installed application if Apple did not want iPhone or iTouch users to have access to it. Apple and Mr. Jobs insist that this is only a precaution and not a function that is or will be routinely used. Just in the first month after the release of the iPhone 3G and the Application Store was made live, around 60 million applications have been downloaded. About $30 million of revenue has been raked in. Developers keep a 70 per cent slice while Apple takes the remaining 30 per cent. This confirms Apple's prediction to make $360 million this year from the Application Store.\n\nDoes Apple have too much power? Should Apple have the right to tell you what software you may or may not use legally? Is this infringing on our natural freedom? Will developers try to push the envelope to see if Apple will activate this "kill switch"? I personally believe that this is beyond the scope of Apple's domain. Yes it is their hardware and just like the rest of their products they limit you on what you can do with them. This is one of the reasons why I will never own an Apple product (that I purchase for myself). That is unless they change their direction and way of doing business. No company should have the right to tell me how I should use the hardware / software that I purchase.