Does the iPhone have a "kill switch"?

Much consternation in the iPhone developer community over the revelation of a "kill switch" buried in the operating system:

Issues surrounding Apple's supposed Orwellian-control over your iPhone have been popping up as iTunes applications have surfaced, disappeared, and resurfaced in recent weeks. The iPhone "Kill Switch" is a separate matter. It is theorized to be a mechanism that can be updated remotely (no syncing required) by Apple and can disable any application running on an iPhone at any time. [. . .]

But to be clear, these applications have not been murdered by a mysterious Apple "kill switch." The so-called "kill switch" remains more mystery than anything else. Zdziarski confesses on research notes posted to his site he knows little about what the code he found does: "We do not know whether this mechanism is active, or what exactly it does."

Nevertheless iPhone developers are beginning to say "hey, wait a minute" as they ponder developing software under the influence of Apple's apparent fickle whims. Many are now asking questions about this "kill switch" wondering could their hard work vanish from iPhones at the flip of a switch?

As more people become dependent upon their iPhones, it becomes a much wider concern over just how much control users have over their own equipment . . . and Apple's famous need to control the users' experience will become a potentially explosive issue. Apple has a huge store of user goodwill, which they've miraculously maintained even as other companies have been pilloried for lesser sins.

It's a huge risk that Apple seems to be blithely running here . . . if the public stopped believing the hype about Apple, they'd become a very ordinary technology firm. Apple's ability to charge a premium is directly proportional to the power of their image with the general public.