iPhone can phone home and kill apps?

Posted by Hookoa
6 August 2008 @ 12pm

So, the link goes to a webpage that shows that the app was deleted in 2004???

Isn’t that waaaay before the iPhone??

Posted by DistortedLoop
6 August 2008 @ 12pm

Yet another reason to jailbreak…

It will be interesting to see this escalate between Apple and the Dev Team, as surely all the Cydia and Installer applications will make it to the blacklist.

Then the Dev Team will strip this from Pwned phones, then Apple will update Firmware to add it back, and on and on.

Posted by tanglewires
6 August 2008 @ 8pm

At a minimum, Apple wants enterprise buyers to consider the iPhone a platform a secure and responsible choice for employees to carry. Probably, Apple wants a hook in the OS so it could guarantee an enterprise buyer that all the company-issued iPhones will be identical. It’s gonna come up…put yourself in the shoes of an IT pro who’s being asked to deploy 10 thousand of these things on 3 continents.

Seems likely that, beyond impressing enterprise buyers, Apple wants to BE a responsible provider of a mobile platform.

Sure, RIM’s Blackberry is a platform with some scale, but no company has tried to the huge scale AND the comparative openness to 3rd party apps that Apple is now attempting.

Imagine a rogue iPhone app that surreptitiously transmitted your credit card numbers and IDs to thieving scum under the guise of storing them for you in a little free app. Would the folks who vett the iPhone apps before they get distribution on the store catch it? What if it were two apps working together, one that was a little wallet app and another a little sketch program that can mail your sketch — and a few extra bytes personal data — and blind copies a third party?

Most iPhone users would be thrilled — after-the-fact — that Apple had deleted the rogue app from their phone. Probably much more likely *that* scenario than Apple deleting apps it “doesn’t like” or something.

Posted by daniel4510_dotmac
7 August 2008 @ 12am

KILL my apps. I don’t care. Just give me my WiFi back. Speed up my backups (I call them blockups these days); sync my phone faster (or as I call it, slink my phone faster). Just make this a darned smart phone instead of a dumb-a$$ phone. I did a back up today that took 6.5 hours. This is not the Apple I am used to. Steve, concentrate on the REAL issues. This is still a phone, first and foremost. I want to make and receive calls again, not spend hours at a time restoring or syncing it. I’m about ready to go back to my Palm. I’ve stood behind Apple through the worst. But this is pathetic. Period. Apple should be ashamed. And Steve is apologizing for Mobile Me? The iPhone is what he needs to be apologizing for. Get it right, and get it right soon.

Posted by Creaventure
7 August 2008 @ 6am

I agree with the previous poster … I have been for over 15 years on a mac…. ( yeahh I know I am old ;-) ) but what is going on with Apple in the last few years is becoming a complete nightmare. Steve you keep releasing software way before they are fully commercial versions, and keep patching it here and there … At the moment I feel like I am sitting behind a WinShit PC that does its constant autoupdate.
The buyers of the the 2G phone like me got screwed , because the 3 G came out … fine some of the recent purchases were allowed to exchange the phone in the stores. However now with the update to a 2G phone of iPhone 2.0 or now iPhone 2.0.1 my phone acts like a Commodore 64 …. I mean Backuptimes of hours …. Syncing times where I can bake a cake inbetween… Keyboard that is so slow that it takes me 3 minutes to type an sms … I don´t care about a shiny toy … I care about a functional phone that I can use when I want to use it … to make calls etc … I mean Steve honestly …. when do you sync your iPhone ??? Right when there are new information in the cloud … right? … So I update my appointments …or last minute changes on some files before I run to my next meeting … well I can´t do this anymore … because I have to sync my phone ages before ….
Steve you owe us an apology … and you owe us to get it right and fixed … ASAP

Posted by versiontracker2007
7 August 2008 @ 7am

daniel4510:

Use USB 2, not USB 1. Only reason I can think of that an iPhone (max size 16 GB) would take that long to backup - I have a 16 GB iPod Touch that doesn’t take more than an hour, while doing other stuff. And wtf is wrong with your WiFi? Or do you simply not know how to use that either?

Posted by likeafox24
7 August 2008 @ 7am

Thank you, versiontracker2007!

I actually encountered a friend who didn’t even know that the iPhone had WiFi! I had to show him how to turn it on and use it in settings. Perhaps our friend Daniel could use some assistance?

I also wonder if he’s ever powered the device down and restarted it. On the rare occasion that I have bugginess, I do that and it’s fixed!

Furthermore, if WiFi truly did not work, a quick trip to the Apple Store would see the device replaced…unless of course this problem only began within the past month putting the device out of warranty.

Sad, sad.

Posted by smokris
7 August 2008 @ 8am

Zdziarski’s comment seems a bit hyperbolic… The fact that this URL was found within the CoreLocation framework and the fact that the URL itself contains the term “/clbl/” (which expands to “CoreLocation Black List” maybe?) suggest to me that this service exists simply to block the ability of certain apps to use CoreLocation functionality — not to block entire apps.

Posted by daniel4510_dotmac
7 August 2008 @ 10am

versiontracker2007,

I’ve had WiFi working on my iPhone (G2) since the day I purchased it over 1 year ago. And it continued to work a few days after installing 2.0, until the phone crashed on me. There are dozens of people (if you would do some research) on the Apple Discussion boards complaining about this very same issue after installing 2.0. Same with long backups. Again, do some research. I’m not alone here.

likeafox24,

A “quick” trip to the Apple Store? I wish I were fortunate enough to have one less than a five hour drive away. ;)

Posted by jt.reynolds
7 August 2008 @ 12pm

Maybe I’m naive, but how does Apple have the right to decide what I do or don’t place on MY device?

This buggy and disappointing iPhone 3G belongs to me, not them. I didn’t lease, rent or borrow it….I bought the freakin’ thing. If I knew how and wanted to turn it into a controller for my microwave oven, Apple (nor anybody else) should be able to stop me. AT&T can stop me from using it on THEIR network and the agreement I signed probably gives them broad discretion to do so, but once Apple sold me this phone their job is done except for support and warranty issues…..much like buying a desktop computer.

Sorry, I just had to vent a bit when I saw that Apple thinks they have the right to decide what I use my device for. …and people think Microsoft pushes people (customers) around. Wow!

Like all of you, I just want the thing to work as advertised without problems.

Good luck

Posted by quickwhitefox
7 August 2008 @ 1pm

Meh, that’s what happens when you pay $600 to be a beta tester.

Never ever ever ever buy an Apple product until Rev 3. It was true in 1984, and it’s true today.

I even think the iPhone 3G is a little soon…I almost (but not quite) regret buying one.

Apple’s Orwellian omnipresence regarding its devices is an invasion of privacy and could almost be considered illegal, and is the one and only thing that is making me think twice about Apple. If I was told that I could only install certain apps on my iMac, I’d never buy another one.

Posted by slygroceryguy
7 August 2008 @ 5pm

Hmmm….some blackberry killer this steaming pile turned out to be… Sure glad I didn’t sell my RIM stock