The program, which reportedly appeared in Apple’s App Store on Monday and cost 99 cents to download, allowed a user to shake an iPhone screen to make a baby stop crying.<\/p>\n
After enough shakes, the hand-drawn baby pictured on the screen stopped wailing and a large red “X” appeared over each eye.<\/p>\n
Silicon Valley technology blogs reported that the application, from an outside developer called Sikalosoft, was pulled from the App Store several hours after Krapps.com, a website which reviews iPhone applications, revealed its existence.<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of applications for the iPhone have been created by independent developers, but Apple has strict control over which ones are featured in the App Store.<\/p>\n
The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation, a New York-based group which seeks to prevent brain injuries from so-called Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS), strongly condemned the “Baby Shaker” application.<\/p>\n
In a statement, it also demanded “a personal apology to parents of SBS victims and survivors” from Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.<\/p>\n
“Apple, Inc., which notoriously and routinely rejects new apps from developers with a ‘rigorous’ vetting process, nonetheless apparently allowed this horrible application to be sold through its store,” the Foundation said.<\/p>\n
“They’re basically saying that killing babies is OK,” Patrick Donohue, founder of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation, told AFP by telephone.<\/p>\n
He said he had contacted Apple but had yet to hear back from the company.<\/p>\n
The appearance of the “Baby Shaker” comes as California-based Apple prepares to celebrate the billionth application download from the App Store.<\/p>\n
A counter at apple.com was at more than 995 million downloads at 0030 GMT on Thursday and the billionth download mark was expected to be passed within the next few hours.<\/p>\n