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Google Says "No App For You!" with Remote Kill Switch

October 17, 2008 10:45 am By 4 Comments

Just yesterday I posted about Matt Miller’s G1 Android phone review (you really should read it if you haven’t already) and was pretty surprised to see Bryan’s comment about the inclusion of an application kill switch by Google.

Temporale-AndroidLogoAn application kill switch isn’t a bad thing, in and of itself. I spend a lot of time helping people manage their fleet of mobile devices, and one of the features that people are looking for is the ability to remotely kill and block applications on the device. Why? Simple, if the company pays for the device, they ma y not want you spending all day in some Facebook application, or installing Google Maps. As a company device, it’s their choice. As a consumer device, is it really Google’s place to prevent you from running an application on the device?

The article over at ComputerWorld indicates that Google “may discover a product that violates the developer distribution agreement” and based on that, they “retain the right to remotely remove those applications from your device at its sole discretion”. This worries me. It’s one thing for a company to control the devices they provide to their employees. It’s something entirely different for a software company to tell me what programs I can and cannot install on my phone. I realize that this could be used for good, for example – a virus, trojan, or what have you. But it can also be used for not so nice things, like forcing third party developers to only distribute their applications using your application store, or preventing applications from developers that don’t meet your guidelines. There’s so many questionable circumstances where this could be used.

I guess it’s a matter of time before we know exactly how it will be used by Google. But I’m pretty concerned and cautious about this move by Google.

About Mike Temporale

Mike Temporale has written 498 posts on Mobile Jaw..

Mike Temporale grew up fascinated by computers since an early age. His first hands on with a computer came when he was 7 years old and a travelling lab of Commodore PET computers made a stop at his school. Hooked on the new world these devices offered, he took any chance possible to get in front of a computer. When Compaq launched the iPaq 3600, he was hooked again. This time on a whole new world of mobile computing. Today, Mike spends his day helping clients deploy and manage their mobile device around the world. From installing custom software, to locking and securing data, and everything in between. He is also the Editor in Chief at Mobile Jaw - a site focused on today's mobile world.

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  • BRYAN B

    I don’t know what’s more disturbing, the fact that Google felt the need to implement such a practice, or the fact that very few sites have reported it. Apple didn’t disclose the kill switch so people had cause to be outraged. Google disclosing it with a joke on the end, does that make it alright or do we just expect this behavior now that it been done.
    I still haven’t seen very much about Google’s crash from Thursday, http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9117426&intsrc=hm_list but any problems with Microsoft or Apple and it’s party time in the news rooms

  • http://www.MobileJaw.com Mike Temporale

    I’ve always found that double standard very interesting. People love to pick apart Microsoft, but when some other company does the exact same thing, there’s almost no mention of it. I expect this to change as other companies move beyond the single product / small market that they have typically been a part of, and open themselves to larger audiences.

  • BRYAN B

    I hope your right but the skeptic in me doubts it.
    In Googles case I think they have always been perceived as the white knight coming to the rescue of the masses and Microsoft has always been the dragon which needed to be destroyed. In order for the double standards the be equal, we as a people need to grow up and open our eyes to the fact we are intimately connected with the rest of the world and not just through our merchandise or banking systems but through or very lives themselves.

  • BRYAN B

    So much for a supposed double standard, looks like Goggle is get thrashed in a big way. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=009117574&intsrc=hm_list