How can I prevent the App Store from doing automatic update checks or notifications? I don't like the App Store app automatically checking for app updates, or showing me notifications when there are updates for my installed apps.  I prefer to take care of updates when I'm ready to update.  

How can I prevent the App Store from automatically checking from updates, or from giving me the the little red notification when updates are available?

I've got an iPhone 4 running iOS 5.0.1.
Sadly, it seems there is no way to do that. 

I checked the AppStore panel in the preference app, and the notification panel. No trace of an option to do that. 

Sorry!