Sikalosoft’s Baby Shaker app made its way, however briefly, onto Apple’s App Store earlier this week — though not, one would argue, into our hearts.
On Thursday, Macworld spoke to an Apple spokesperson, who issued the following statement of apology:
“This application was deeply offensive and should not have been approved for distribution on the App Store.
When we learned of this mistake, the app was removed immediately. We sincerely apologize for this mistake and thank our customers for bringing this to our attention.”
Developed by Sikalosoft, Baby Shaker featured a crude drawing of a baby, and the object of the game was to stop the baby from crying by shaking the iPhone until red X’s appear over the baby’s eyes.
The description of Baby Shaker read: “On a plane, on the bus, in a theater. Babies are everywhere you don’t want them to be! They’re always distracting you from preparing for that big presentation at work with their incessant crying. Before Baby Shaker there was nothing you could do about it.”
Creating applications for iPhone has become quite a lucrative occupation for many.
There are many iPhone apps for business use but many others are for recreation.
Still, other users jailbreak their iPhones in order to download third party applications.
Some groups have called the application offensive, especially in relation to the dangers of Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Defenders of the program, meanwhile, have said the application is clearly humorous in intent.
However, Baby Shaker had Apple in hot water with angry parents and children’s groups, who demanded answers from Apple.
Patrick Donohue, founder of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation (dedicated to children suffering from Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury) was so upset with the app, he wrote a letter to Steve Jobs and other Apple executives.
“As the father of a three-year-old who was shaken by her baby nurse when she was only five days old, breaking three ribs, both collarbones and causing a severe brain injury, words cannot describe my reaction,” said Donohue.
“You have no idea the number of children your actions have put at risk by your careless, thoughtless and reckless behavior!”
Jennipher Dickens, the communications director for the Sarah Jane Brain Project, had this to say about the app being removed from the App Store: “I’m very relieved that it’s been taken down. I would still like clarification from Apple on how it got up there in the first place. It’s horrifying that they were selling it.”
Dickens is well aware of the dangers of Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Her son Christopher was shaken by his biological father when he was only seven weeks old. Her son, now two, has irreversible brain damage.
Representatives from Apple confirmed that the app had been removed on Wednesday.
Sikalosoft’s Web site currently has the following statement on its home page:
Yes, the Baby Shaker iPhone app was a bad idea. You should never shake a baby! Even on an Apple iPhone Baby Shaking application. In case you are unaware Baby Shaker was an Apple iPhone application that was greatly lacking in taste. It was approved by Apple for download upon the iPhone.
However, it was later taken down because it was a baby shaking video game! While GTA is a video game that pushes the limits, it is still yet (sic) to have a baby shaking mini game in it. There are currently over 30000 iPhone applications out there. So, there are many other iPhone applications you could be better spending your time and money on.
The site then goes on to list the top 10 Apple iPhone apps.
Apple’s uneven and obscure approval process has been a matter of dispute and discussion since the App Store’s debut last July, though the questions have often revolved more around apps that were rejected from the store rather than those that Apple erroneously let through.
The site then goes on to list the top 10 Apple iPhone apps.
Sources: Computerworld.com and Macworld.com