Apple says GameStore iPhone application went on sale prematurely, issues refunds

An odd application made its way onto the iPhone App Store called “GameStore” a few days ago. The application was deemed an Apple internal testing tool for their iOS in-app-purchase system, and the June 2009 date -the month of the event in which in-app-purchase was formally announced- on the application’s store page seems to affirm that.

You recently purchase the GameStore app. The app was made available for sale prematurely. We apologize for the problem and have refunded the purchase amount back to your account. These funds will be applied to your original payment method within 5 business days.

The application was quickly removed from the App Store, and today, buyers were informed that refunds for the application were issued to their iTunes accounts. Interestingly, Apple noted that the “GameStore” application went live on the App Store “prematurely.” We do not want to read too much into Apple announcing this GameStore application was publicly released early, especially because of the June 2009 date attached to the application,  but one can infer that it is an App Store dedicated to gaming software.

Thanks, Jordan from App of the Day and Cole M!