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.
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?
...and 80% of statistics are made up on the spot...
No offense, but isn't this the kind of 'protect people from themselves' crap that gets ragged on in a political sense under the term 'Nanny State?' Are you advocating this?
Let's say that Apple does have a 'press this button for root access' option. Once malware starts telling people to enable that option, don't you think that it would be HUGE in the media, and word would spread like wildfire that you shouldn't do that or your identity will be stolen? People are dumb to desktop computer security because it doesn't affect their 'bottom line.' When someone's computer becomes part of a botnet or installs popup malware, they likely don't know the difference from when their computer is normally functioning.
How many people have actually had (for example) their bank accounts emptied because of a computer virus? If such incidents became commonplace, you can bet your butt that people would get smart real fast. Right now there is just no incentive for people to get smart to these things because "the computer is getting really slow" is the only difference that they notice between an infected desktop and an uninfected one (and when it's their employer's computer they have even less incentive to care because 'IT will take care of it').