After removing the “I Am Rich” application from the App Store, Steve Jobs confirmed that the Apple software engineers had left a backdoor in the iPhone, allowing Cupertino’s camp to remove malicious software from the iPhone 3G remotely. Since the first generation iPhone also runs the same Software Version both devices have been confirmed to have this remote kill switch. Jobs stated that they hope to never pull the lever, but Apple would be irresponsible to have not have a kill switch, however, Apple has had to remove an application from the App Store last week.
Recently Jonathan Zdziarski, author of the books “iPhone Forensics Manual” and “iPhone Open Application Development” discovered a URL buried in Apple’s firmware that links to a file called “unauthorizedApps” where malicious apps may go once they disappear from the App Store.
In other iPhone 3G News, GearLog is reporting that carriers are agreeing that the iPhone 3G suffers from widespread reception problems. Over the past two days, two carriers (Vodafone Australia & T-mobile) have admitted that there is something wrong with the iPhone 3G and the problem has nothing to do with the carriers’ networks. The big news here is that since the original iPhone, Apple has referred all question related to reception problems to At&t and respective carriers.
The 3G coverage of T-Mobile is as good as the competition, there can therefore not lie. We suspect that it is a hardware / software specific issue of the iPhone itself,” T-Mobile Netherlands said, according to a Google Translation of the post. A former colleague fluent in Dutch translated the second part of the first sentence as saying “so that should not be the issue.”
In other widely reported news, extremely prescient Nomura Securities analyst Richard Windsor told GigaOm that the iPhone 3G may have an “immature” chipset from Infineon causing these sometimes-but-not-always reception troubles. Whether Apple could work around this with a firmware update is a mystery, because of course, Apple isn’t talking.
For the latest on the iPhone 3G reception problems, we suggest you stay tuned to the MacForums thread