Apple let a little bit of software called GameStore slip to the App Store, but seems to have yanked it outta there. We can rest assured that someone, somewhere is being beaten with a phone book in an Apple “Re-Education Center” at an undisclosed location.
The App was meant for internal testing of in-app iPhone purchases and wasn’t supposed to be on the App Store (as you could probably tell by the fact that it was yanked). But for a brief, shining moment you could grab it for $0.99. Apparently this is a system by which you can buy apps from within apps (yo, dawg), and Apple Insider explained a bit further:
Within the application is a “Products List” which appears to be used to test the in-app purchase functionality. Users can buy options like “2 Lives” for $2.99, “Awesome Sword” for 99 cents, “Ax” for $19.99, and “Big Gun” for $1.99.
It also has a “Shopping Cart,” “Payment Q” and “Settings”, but there’s no content in there.
Apple’s interest and presence in the gaming world has been something of a dull roar (at best) for decades. The company has traditionally flirted with the gaming market but, ultimately, shied away from it. Even the outlandishly successful gaming culture of iOS has seen the creation of a ho-hum Game Center from Apple that is meant to be something of a social networking hub but does little to ignite the gamer’s play time. We shouldn’t kid ourselves and say that the appearance of GameStore is proof positive of anything more than Apple trying a few things out on their end, but while they might not be huge on straight-up gaming, they definitely like money. This is a good reason to believe a GameStore could be Apple’s attempt to bolster gaming activity and further skim the cream off the iOS gaming world.
Source: Apple Insider
