Want to Kill a Baby? There’s an App for That…

Apple decided to pull a controversial App from the iTunes Store called “Baby Shaker.” This disgusting app invited you to test your patience as a baby cried nonstop, timing how long you could last before losing it. In order to make the baby stop crying, players are supposed to violently shake the iPhone, killing the baby, and ending the game. I WISH this was some kind of sick joke, but it isn’t.

The 99 cent app was created by a company called Sikalosoft, and managed to stay on the store for two days before protests from child welfare groups forced Apple to remove it. “Not only are they making fun of shaken baby syndrome, but they are actually encouraging it. This is absolutely terrible,” said Marilyn Barr, founder of the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome.

A description of the application ends with the words, “Never, never shake a baby.” Apparently Apple feels that’s enough to justify a game where the entire purpose is to kill a baby. Especially when the sale line is “See how long you can endure his or her adorable cries before you just have to find a way to quiet the baby down!”

Apple claims its app approval process is aimed to keep the store in top quality, but when utter crap like this gets through, and useful apps like tethering, the Slingbox player, and anything that even LOOKS like it has an iPhone in the icon get denied, the serious flaws in the approval process are reviled. What’s the point of moderating apps if crap like this can easily get through?

Source: NY Daily News | Apple pulls ‘Baby Shaker’ iPhone app after child welfare groups protest