It’s a slippery slope. Who decides what’s acceptable? You? Me? I can guarantee we probably have very different ideas about that. Maybe I despise your religion, or your views on sexuality.

To me this game is in poor taste but is worth a few chuckles in certain circles. Strangely, it also educates people as to what will happen if you do shake a baby: it dies. Many babies are shaken to death by people who don’t know how fragile they are.

Frankly this iron-fisted censorship is one of a great many reasons to jailbreak an Apple device. Here are some of the things you can do after jailbreaking that are a lot more valuable than a stupid baby shaker app:
1. tether your iphone (pdanet)
2. record movies (cycorder)
3. take clearer pictures (clearcam)
4. run apps in the background (backgrounder)
5. get a free open-source turn-by-turn gps (xgps)
6. system-wide cut and paste (clippy)
7. have a flashlight app that illuminates at full strength

I could go on but you get the idea. And jailbreaking is very easy – just google it. I did not want to jailbreak my iPhone 3g, I HAD to do it. Imagine buying a car and the car company tries to tell you what you can and cannot do to the engine. Ridiculous!

Is it perhaps unfortunate that customers may not be able to purchase something specific from Apple or any other reseller in the mobile app market? Maybe, but I don’t think this is really that unusual a situation. What seems to distinguish this is that we’re dealing with the digital realm, and that is a market where consumers have come to embrace choice as a leading priority. This prioritization often leads to a sense of entitlement, and the unfortunate result is often negatively charged emotions. But
consumer choice is not about the privilege to choose anything, it’s about the privilege to choose from what is available on a given day.

From a business perspective, however, this is how markets typically operate. Businesses choose what they will sell, and sometimes they also change their approach based on perceived opportunity, customer feedback being just one source. Other times businesses choose not to respond to customer feedback and new businesses emerge to fill untapped markets.

Simple Examples: I can’t buy compressed yeast because no one deems it worthy of selling where I live. I’ve spoken to resellers, and they tell me they can’t get it in stock or that they choose not to because there isn’t sufficient consumer demand. My immediate choices, then, are to go without yeast or to adjust my needs to work with dry yeast. Likewise I can’t buy a new car with Volvo safety in the $15-20,000 price range. On this one I’ve decided to say nothing because I’m confident there is no chance of getting a response which will affect change.

In this case with Apple, though, you are correct that as of now there aren’t really any alternatives for consumers. But it’s also early. Really early. In the US, the idea of a centralized source of mobile platform applications is 9 months old. And only one company has really taken this approach so far. Considering this market is in its infancy and there is a lack of resellers, it would seem that customers are doing relatively well since the average user on the iPhone platform has downloaded 27 applications. And soon, customers will likely have multiple other choices which are reasonably well developed (Pre, WinMo, Blackberry, Android).

Apple may be doing well in such a short time (regardless of the one issue at hand), but to say that consumers have no choice is a little unfair when the market is still nascent. As the market grows, should Apple deny approval to many applications a broad segment of consumers seek, then that is an opportunity for developers on other platforms, and therein will be the choice for consumers. People have responded to this decision by Apple as if they the company is violating the Sherman Antitrust Act or breaking an explicit covenant they made which said they would approve all applications. Neither of these are true. Apple has made their choice: They will serve as gatekeeper, and they have certain standards which they deem unacceptable (albeit, not publicly delineated). Now consumers can make their choice: Decide if what Apple offers is of sufficient value.

Um… Uh oh.

Anyone who’s “up in arm’s” about useless crap like this needs to get a hobby.

So is the issue with you just gore?
Violence and death are fine as long as blood/guts are not sprayed?
As long as the graphics or sketches are “Delightful” and the murder is “cute”?

Last time I checked, large amounts of mainstream PC and X-Box games don’t involve the murder of a child or children. Big Difference. If you had children you would probably understand a bit more.

Is it really a shock to you that people are upset over this app?
Are you not aware that most people would tolerate a serial killer then a baby killer?
There are TV shows based off of serial killers, and the books discussing serial killers are many. You’d think little to nothing of someone watching these shows or reading these books yet the mood would be different if they were about baby killers.

Are you not aware that way more people are deeply affected more when they hear a child has died then they are of a full grown adult?

and

“This app doesn’t train anyone to shake babies and has no gratuitous violence or actual baby killing in it at all. It’s a silly joke. A piece of black humour and people are waaay over-reacting about it IMO.”

I didn’t know you needed “Training” to shake babies. “Shake – Babies/Baby” is pretty self explanitory. You acknowledged the baby dies above in your post and lets see… how do they die? from shaking thus there is actual baby killing. This may not register to you because there is no blood or guts. I enjoy Black Humor but this is tasteless and devoid of anything funny or entertaining. I know people have a tendency to overact but if you cant see what is appalling then perhaps you are the one who is desensitised like the people who are “trained to get used to insane levels of violence and gore”

Again, I know you’d have a different take if you had a child or worked with children.
As a person who has lost someone to gun violence I don’t think of it when I see violent video games nor does it conjour any emotions, but I know for a parent who lost their child to a nanny, baby sitter, shaking their baby, this disgusting app makes them relive the whole ordeal.