It isn't often you hear good press about GameStop but Apple is a marketing dandy. Hype surrounds Apple and its products year round as consumers cannot wait to get their hands on the next product. Even rumors of a small price drop on their flagship iPhone send the media into a prediction frenzy.

It seems like anything Apple touches turns to gold making it no wonder that GameStop couldn't wait to get their hands on some iOS devices.

9to5mac has several sources informing them that an announcement was made at a Las Vegas trade show that GameStop will begin selling Apple's iOS devices including the iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone in their stores. As of this week GameStop has also began accepting used iOS device trade-ins for store credit. GameStop is widely known for their trade-in incentives for used games and game consoles for store credit - and Apple devices usually offer a reasonable resale value used.

For the past couple years Apple has been pushing to secure additional third party sales partners for their line of products. The exposure and marketing created by this partnership is likely beneficial to both parties, increasing awareness of the products and in-store traffic for the partner's store locations caused by the popularity and demand for Apple products, especially at launch.

This is a smart business decision on GameStop's part. Riding on the coattails of Apple's success while simultaneously opening their door to the casual gamer audience is exactly what GameStop needs. With digital distribution companies like OnLive handing out coupons and GameFly going digital they need to widen their scope as much as possible, and hurry up and open their own GameStop digital distribution store.

Apple TV Air Mirroring Games to Beat Wii U to Market

In each iteration of iOS devices Apple has introduced new technology or hardware which has improved or changed mobile gaming for the better. From gyroscopes for augmented reality or realistic aiming to the retina display for high-resolution graphics, iPod Touches and iPhones have evolved into gamer friendly devices. The A5 processor in the iPad 2 offered an increase of up to 9x the graphics power, allowing more polygons and higher detailed textures to smoothly render in games like Infinity Blade.

You have to wonder what Apple has up its sleeve as we approach the usual time frame for Apple's Fall media event. Now that Apple has partnered with GameStop, does Apple have something even bigger in store for gamers? Maybe Apple plans to push the use of AirPlay mirroring in gaming, to compete against the Wii U. They have certainly taken over the touch and casual mobile gamer market, knocking Nintendo's 3DS on its heels. Nintendo has thrived on innovation and gimmick gaming lately. If Apple stole the gimmick and put their Apple marketing spin on it, therefore stealing the tablet market before Nintendo even got a bite, Nintendo could really be in trouble.

Will you be trading in your old iPad or iPod touch to buy your next game? Will you buy the new iPhone from GameStop?

Source: 9to5Mac