posted Mar 2nd 2011 6:48AM 
We're sure that the debate of a carefully controlled and curated environment like Apple's App Store versus a free-for-all like the Android Market will rage on for years to come, but here's something to chew on: Google just removed some 21 apps from the Market in the last day from a publisher going by Myournet for doing all sorts of naughty things to your device. Offenses include attempting to root your phone, uploading phone information (including IMEI) to who-knows-where, and -- most egregiously -- adding a backdoor that allows additional code to be pulled down and executed. At least some of the apps are pirated versions of existing apps that have been re-uploaded at zero cost to the user, which makes them appealing... and the trick apparently works quite well, because the 21 managed to clock over 50,000 downloads before getting taken down. This isn't the first time malicious apps have shown up on smartphones -- far from it -- but it's probably the highest-profile case of a first-party app store being infiltrated by really bad stuff. If there's a silver lining, it's that Google was extraordinarily quick to respond once Android Police reported the situation -- the site says it took less than five minutes from the time they reached out to the time the apps actually went offline. Still, that's little consolation if you've already installed your "free" copy of Super History Eraser. Hit the source links for the full list of pulled apps.
Update: Android Central points out that the type of root exploit used in these apps was patched in Android 2.2.2 and up, so Nexus One and Nexus S owners should be fine; everyone else is left out in the cold, though, thanks to the vexing third-party update lag. Thanks, Z!
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As it turns out, the word "chacha" is used as a term of disparagement in the Spanish language. Coincidentally, perhaps after somebody hit HTC's marketing genii with a Spanish phrasebook, the HTC ChaCha will hereafter be known as the ChaChaCha in the land of sun, sand and siestas. This follows mobile search engine ChaCha suing for trademark infringement a couple of days ago and serves as an instructive example of why one should do one's market research before deciding to use one's internal codenames as retail product nomenclature. 
Looks like Apple isn't the only one wanting to make sure that app payments are being run through appropriate channels. The Visual VoiceMail app, which has been downloaded about a million times (literally), has just been pulled from the Android Market. When developers at PhoneFusion asked the reasonable question, "why," they were simply directed to section 3.3 of the Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement: 
Leo Apotheker, HP's successor to the infamous Mark Hurd, has sat down for a chat with the Wall Street Journal recently, and while most of it is innocuous corporate-speak -- "we need to fire up our innovation engine" -- there was one quote that piqued our interest. The new chief believes HP needs to get its products to market faster, rejecting Sam Palmisano's suggestion that HP has lost its innovative touch and insisting that his company's weakness has been in just not getting the products out to store shelves quickly enough. Of course, you could say that that's an error HP is repeating again with the launch of its new webOS devices -- the TouchPad, the Pre 3 and the Veer -- none of which are expected to arrive before this spring. However, to be fair to Apotheker, he's still relatively new to the job and these words from him could well signal a change for the better in future product cycles. Full interview at the source.