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The "Baby Shaker" app was described (before it was pulled) as follows:
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.
Now, Baby Shaker gives you a charming drawing of a baby sure to make those with a less than iron will fawn. True to life, it begins to annoy you immediately. See how long you can endure his or her adorable cries before you just have to find a way to quiet the baby down!
Never, never shake a baby.
Yes, the last sentence of the description of "Baby Shaker" really makes a difference, doesn't it.
Apple's statement:
"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."
Apple did not address the process by which the app entered the App Store in the first place. Apple has never been open about the guidelines it uses to determine App Store entry.
Sikalosoft, developers of the app, changed its website to say "Yes, the Baby Shaker iPhone app was a bad idea." They also added a PSA at the bottom of the page about "Shaken Baby Syndrome."
Patrick Donohue, founder of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation as well as the founder of Sarah Jane Donohue, who suffers from Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury (PTBI) after being shaken by a caregiver, wrote this in a letter to Steve Jobs:
"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."
Additionally, the Foundation's Jennifer Dickens wrote in a press release sent out by the organization:
"This horrible iPhone app will undoubtedly be downloaded thousands of times by others in that same young male demographic--the population group that is already statistically the most likely to shake babies."
Finally, Marilyn Bar, founder of the US Centre for Shaken Baby Syndrome, said:
"Not only are they making fun of shaken baby syndrome, but they are actually encouraging it. This is absolutely terrible."
While it's great that Apple removed it, it didn't take a brain surgeon to realize it need to be dumped. The obvious question is, what did it take to approve it?
Those interested can watch the app in action in the attached video.
Posted April 24th, 2009 by Michael Santo
