Apple Store to Serve Billionth Download Today

Here's a shocker: Apple's iTunes App Store is all over the news today. Some of it is good (at least from the company's perspective): The store is about to hit its one billionth download. Apple has even estimated the time it's going to happen down to the minute. Download the milestone application, and you can win some valuable prizes, including a $10,000 iTunes gift card.

If you happen to be the lucky winner, though, there is one app you won't be able to purchase. Apple has just pulled "Baby Shaker," which had to be its most ill conceived and arguably offensive program ever, from the store.

Developed by Sikalosoft, the app invited users to change a picture of a crying baby into a picture of a calm one by shaking their iPods. Unsurprisingly, child welfare groups were outraged, saying the app made light of and even encouraged the practice of shaking babies, which can cause serious injuries. It's unclear how and why Apple initially approved Baby Shaker, and company's murky screening process has been called into question. Perhaps the screeners were inundated with too many approval requests for farting applications that day.

[UPDATE 4/24: Connor Mulcahey, age 13, downloaded an app called Bump and won the grand prize: a $10,000 iTunes gift card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro.]