In-App Purchases Stall, Return As Apple's verifyReceipt Goes Down

A crucial iOS security feature has been down since Thursday night, leaving most developers unable to honor in-game purchases without fear of fake purchase attempts. Apple's proprietary web-based verifyReceipt functionality currently gives a 404 Not Found error, leaving game operators without an official resource to verify the authenticity of any in-game purchases. The use of verifyReceipt is optional, though most leading apps depend on the feature. Univerified speculation is circulating that false purchase receipts have gotten into the system, though Apple has made no statement to that effect. Requests for clarification by Gamasutra to Apple were not immediately replied to. [UPDATE: As of late Friday, the problem has been fixed, according to Twitter reports from developers.]