Apple apologizes for Baby Shaker
Updated at 3:00 p.m. PT with word from Sikalosoft.
Apple issued a statement Thursday apologizing for allowing the Baby Shaker application onto the App Store.
Just hours before the App Store offers up its 1 billionth download, Apple was forced to acknowledge that perhaps the most notorious iPhone application ever constructed was "deeply offensive" and a "mistake." Baby Shaker appeared on the App Store Monday, and was pulled Wednesday after a media frenzy grew following the discovery of the application by the founder of a shaken baby syndrome foundation.
Apple has apologized for approving Baby Shaker for inclusion on the App Store.
(Credit: Screenshot by Tom Krazit/CNET)Apple's statement follows in its entirety:
"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."
The company refused to comment on the process that led to the approval of Baby Shaker as an iPhone application. The day it revealed the software development kit for the iPhone last year, Apple said it planned to review every single iPhone application submitted for inclusion on the App Store, and reject applications that violated certain guidelines for porn, spam, or other offensive content.
However, in practice, Apple has chosen to wield its rejection stamp in confusing and sometimes contradictory ways.
Applications have been banned for containing off-color language. The creators of South Park were not allowed to sell their application because of "potentially offensive" content, despite the fact that the show's episodes are available in the iTunes Store. And Apple has rejected applications that appear to compete with its business interests while approving applications submitted by well-connected friends that break App Store rules.
Apple's decision to play App Store gatekeeper has forced it into what might be an unsustainable position. If the volume of submissions to the App Store continues to grow--there are now more than 35,000 applications currently on the store, Apple executives said Wednesday--Apple will be forced to employ an army of application inspectors who will not only have to scour each app for technical quality, but make content-related decisions based on criteria Apple has yet to disclose.
Sikalosoft, the company that created Baby Shaker, has not responded to e-mails requesting comment on the application as well as the approval process, and whether or not Apple raised any objections to the application during that process. Any mention of Baby Shaker has been removed from Sikalosoft's Web site, but a benign application called Dice Mosaic is still available in the App Store.
Updated 3:00 p.m. - Macworld noticed that Sikalosoft has posted an early candidate for Understatement of the Year on its new Web site. "Okay, so maybe the Baby Shaker iPhone app was a bad idea." The rest of the site is devoted to information about Shaken Baby Syndrome. Alex Talbot, who appears to be the developer behind Baby Shaker, has still not responded to e-mailed requests for comment on the application.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
The aim is to shake a baby to death to stop it crying. And you wonder what the problem is?
You know how many children are killed each year from shaken baby syndrome?
Even playing around like that is sick and should bar you from ever having a child or being around one.
How is this a quality application?
Ironically, this app from the App Store will probably do more to raise awareness of shaken baby syndrome than millions spent on public service ads and pamphlets.
Sure it offensive. Ever play GTA? Call of Duty? Any of a million other games where the goal is to inflict maximum violence? They're all offensive but people have decided that, for some reason, killing a simulated adult is fine but a simulated baby is off limits. Its an arbitrary distinction.
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Quite true and accurate. Frankly, I don't give a crap how offensive something is as long as the person in question is doing the 'offensive' things that would cause physical harm to others in real life on a computer screen!
Violent computer games and applications do NOT increase the violence of people in real life. In fact, the only LEGITIMATE studies that have been done have found the exact opposite.
"Wow, sucks to have an iPhone! I can get any program I want on my WinMo phone, and I don't have to worry about the next update bricking it!"
Actually, you will have to worry about the next update from WinMo wiping all of your data off of your phone and having re-setup everything! Now that's MS convenience! Or, if you are like me and run Vista, pray to dog that the update won't completely fry your phone. I had 2 phone go that way. The only way to properly update from 6 to 6.1 was to use XP. Go figure!
Is it censorship? Yes, but it's a private company with a standard of quality that they claim to enforce for all products they approve, and this one, while to me harmless, did not meet that standard.
No, Apple charge nothing for App Review. $99 up front and submit all you like.
$90 per submission was MSFT's upcoming app market's rule. But even MSFT realized how stupid this idea was, so they backpedaled. (Actual numbers may vary)
just kidding this app actually was pretty bad
Just trying to figure out if the shouted words were a hidden message or something...
The funny part is the idea that you might actually expect anyone to take your biased bull seriously.
GTA4 is offensive, but you can withhold who gets their hands on it. This program is open to everyone who has an iphone/touch. That's about the best argument I can come up with.
That said, I thought the issue was that Apple (eventually) thought that adults might find this app offensive (an understatement to say the least), not that children might be able to play it. Anyone who has given their children an iPhone or Touch AND an App Store account to do whatever they want with is a total idiot who should have their children taken away from them. The world has enough spoiled, uncaring, selfish brats as it is.
Notice how that effectively shoots down Gecko's comment about age controls.
The app was offensive. I have yet to hear anyone argue otherwise. Apple has the right to decide not to carry it in their store, it is after all THEIR store. They also had the right to decide to carry it and really it shouldn't have caused them the flack that it has. It's Sikalosoft's disaster, not Apple's. Burn Sikalosoft's CEO's at the stake if you must, but first you should consider asking yourself why this upsets you so much. Shaking your phone until red X's appear over the eyes on a sketch of a baby hurts no one. Tasteless? Yes. But no one dies.
Chillax. Take your anger out on the guilty, the people who actually shake helpless babies like that. THEY truly deserve your ire. Not some developer with an unfortunately demented and/or sick sense of humor.
It's Apple's Store, though, so they can do what they want. I also have the ability to ditch my iPhone for something else if this continues.........
Apple should think about not only $$$$ in mind.
He gave me an incredulous look saying "You are really going to let a 8 year old play Silent Hill 3!" I said "Hell yes, I'm not one of those prudes who thinks that a little violence that a child sees is going to make them into the next Jackie the Ripper!"
My cousin is 18 now, and as I stated..... it didn't turn her into a Jackie the Ripper, in fact she is LESS violent than most girls her age.
"Oh, Apple locks us in." "Oh, Apple lets crappy apps like this on but doesn't let good ones." "Oh, Apple's App Store is not good for developers or consumers."
They just sold ONE BILLION applications through the App Store in less than a year. Microsoft, Palm, Android & others are all scrambling to copy its success. Apple just had another better than project quarter in sales, including iPhones...during a RECESSION! (Oh, how'd Redmond do today?)
Good heavens, people...get a grip on a relevancy! It's like you're crying about a gnat's fart here!!
/
FOLLOWUP :
"(Oh, how'd Redmond do today?)"
Stock's up nearly $17 in after hours trading after the financial news as released. Not bad at all.
your the one who has no grip on relevancy
how exaclty are Apples profits relevant to a consumer??
you just said people shouldnt complain about products they purchase as long as the company they buy them from makes profits
Good heavans you are a dumb-***
either way its the job of the consumer to complain and tell then what we want
- by gluchow75 April 24, 2009 5:39 AM PDT
- People are paying $200-$500 for Apple products, and downloading garbage content like this onto it? We are a proud society, aren't we?
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