It’s the ambition of every mobile app developer to generate lots of attention (and comparable revenue) for their creative digital wizardry.
Yet, in a world where controversy is king, few app developers ever wish for the scornful eye many have directed to the controversial “Baby Shaker” application just removed (finally) from Apple’s virtual storefront.
The 99-cent application (for the iPhone and iPod touch), developed by firm Sikalosoft, simulates “the shaking of an infant”, and features the tagline “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. See how long you can endure his or her adorable cries before you just have to find a way to quiet the baby down!”
In a sick and sinister fashion, the more you shake the phone, the better your chances are of “winning.” In this case, vigorous iPhone shaking leads to red “x marks” blinking in the animated infant’s eyes.
After a scathing series of reports (including one in the Wall Street Journal) the “Baby Shaker” application is no longer available for download from the App Store as of the last forty-eight hours.
Unfortunately, no one knows how many people actually downloaded and shared this app before it was finally yanked.
From this humble blogger’s perspective, I think it’s safe to assume that we haven’t heard the last of this controversy.
