That Apple's review process is rather unclear is evident from this week's release and Thursday recall of an apparently infuriating application that surprisingly had made it past the Apple approval process - the contentious application being the 'Baby Shaker.'

The Sikalosoft-developed Baby Shaker application features a somewhat raw sketch of a baby, with the aim of the game being stopping the baby from crying by continual shaking of the iPhone till the time red X's became visible over the eyes of the baby!

The explicitly absurd Baby Shaker app was described thus: "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."

Quite obviously, the application caused a furor among parents and children's groups, who feel that Apple owes the public an explanation for coming up with the Baby Shaker thing! Questions are being raised about Apple's rather callous attitude with regard to approval of applications.

Meanwhile, quick to realize its mistake, Apple Thursday removed the app from the stores. Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said: "This application was deeply 'offensive' and should not have been approved for distribution on the App Store."