> Apple, as gatekeeper had (has?) the opportunity to fix this.
Why would it be in Apple's interests to prohibit micro transactions in games? On the contrary, they do make a 30% cut of the sales, don't they?
Even if Apple did change their policy, there's still Google, Amazon, Russian Yandex and Chinese app stores that do allow this. If Apple (or anyone else) disallows this, the game publishers will release their stuff on the markets that do allow IAPs.
Although it seems like Apple have had some bad PR and having to refund some (32M$ !) of kids' purchases: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57617270-37/apple-to-refun...
> Apple has a noose of very bad karma around it's neck because of this.
Only some gamers complain, this isn't really hurting Apple's image as a whole enough to make them take action.
I'm guessing this phenomenon will die by itself given some time. Gamers and parents are already revolting. When more parents will prevent their kids from using their credit cards, a (major?) part of the money supply will run dry and the game publishers will have to come up with other business models.