14 DAY TRIAL // Sunnyvale-based mobile phone maker Palm released only two days ago a new firmware upgrade for its Palm Pre handset, namely webOS 1.2.0, and now we learn that one of the novelties included with the new software flavor is an App Catalog 'kill switch'. Basically, this means that Palm will be able to remove applications downloaded from the App Catalog from the Pre, something that is new for the handset maker, yet old in the industry.
“Palm reserves the right, at its sole discretion and at any time, to add, remove, disable access to, block, or modify the App Catalog, and to add, remove, disable access to, block, or modify remotely any Applications previously downloaded to your device from the App Catalog,” App Catalog’s End-User Terms & Conditions states, mypre reported. Nothing surprising here, and it should be interesting to see how the company plans on making use of it.
For what it's worth, other industry players, including Microsoft or Apple, already have such an option in place. Microsoft confirmed recently that the kill switch was in place for its soon-to-be-launched Windows Marketplace for Mobile, yet stated that it only planned on using it in case there were harmful applications that needed to be wiped out of users' handsets. As for the inclusion of this functionality within the newest version of webOS, it has been rumored before, yet it is only now that it is fully unveiled.
Palm's App Catalog has seen a great deal of applications added to it in the past few weeks, with more expected to come, and there are great chances that some apps that will show “unexpected behavior,” as Microsoft puts it, will pass unnoticed through the testing. Palm is responsible for the software solutions it delivers to users, and having the possibility to remove a malicious app from a device seems to be a good idea.