Yes, they are protecting people from themselves. However it's not at all an altruistic gesture, it's purely self preservation. You're thinking in a geek/nerd mindset. The iPhone is a black box to most people - indistinguishable from magic. We want to get to the bottom of why a problem occurred, most people wouldn't even bother to link their actions with the consequences, let alone take personal responsibility when they end up losing money. Litigation and smear campaigns are far more likely.
I think the mainstream press wouldn't bother to describe details about an obscure option hidden deep within the system settings, and would likely have whatever was the most sensational, intellectually dishonest headline they could get away with coupled with some vague, useless security tips like locking your phone with a pin and making sure bluetooth is turned off in crowded places.
People don't have their bank accounts emptied (usually, except via phishing websites and Android Marketplace apps) because their computers aren't intrinsically linked to their credit cards. Phones are, and it would be completely trivial (and very tempting) to make a dialer.exe type program that surreptitiously makes $9.95/min calls to Nigeria. List it as some kind of a raunchy sex line and try pleading innocence to your telco about that one. Go on, I dare you.
Another point: on a PC, data is stored kind of haphazardly and if you have nefarious objectives in mind it's a lot more difficult to access very specific kinds of information. On a phone, this is very easy - everything has it's place. Especially on the iPhone with it's wide use of open standards - crack open the sqlite database you need and query away to your heart's content.
> [...] computers aren't intrinsically linked to their credit cards. Phones are, and it would be completely trivial (and very tempting) to make a dialer.exe type program that surreptitiously makes $9.95/min calls to Nigeria. List it as some kind of a raunchy sex line and try pleading innocence to your telco about that one.
What makes Apple's approach that much more secure? They don't inspect the source code of an App. There could be hidden 'call home' features that are waiting for a switch to be flipped to execute the malicious code that's wrapped up in a pink and fuzzy package. Sure Apple can hit a 'kill switch' on an App, but they need to know that the App is a threat before they do so. What happens when an App does your 'dialer.exe' example and calls Nigeria? Does this immediately alert Apple to 'suspicious goings-on' and they make a dramatic leap to hit the big red button?
I think the mainstream press wouldn't bother to describe details about an obscure option hidden deep within the system settings, and would likely have whatever was the most sensational, intellectually dishonest headline they could get away with coupled with some vague, useless security tips like locking your phone with a pin and making sure bluetooth is turned off in crowded places.
People don't have their bank accounts emptied (usually, except via phishing websites and Android Marketplace apps) because their computers aren't intrinsically linked to their credit cards. Phones are, and it would be completely trivial (and very tempting) to make a dialer.exe type program that surreptitiously makes $9.95/min calls to Nigeria. List it as some kind of a raunchy sex line and try pleading innocence to your telco about that one. Go on, I dare you.
Another point: on a PC, data is stored kind of haphazardly and if you have nefarious objectives in mind it's a lot more difficult to access very specific kinds of information. On a phone, this is very easy - everything has it's place. Especially on the iPhone with it's wide use of open standards - crack open the sqlite database you need and query away to your heart's content.