Apple store is down... at CES?

Huh, the Apple store down on a Tuesday? At CES? A week before Jobs' keynote? Well, we're up and watching. This had better be worth it Apple.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Zadillo @ Jan 8th 2008 8:15AM]

I doubt it would be anything; might be one of those phantom updates though where they take the store down but we don't see whatever the heck it was they added until a week or two later.

[Audicct @ Jan 8th 2008 8:38AM]

Macbook upgrades anyone? New Intel Penryn chipset?

[King Mustard @ Jan 8th 2008 8:16AM]

Mac mini upgrade, come on!

[James T @ Jan 8th 2008 8:19AM]

When does Thomas sleep?

[heyguy @ Jan 13th 2008 9:05AM]

When you do.

[auggie2k @ Jan 8th 2008 8:23AM]

iPod Touch 32GB and 64GB please :-)

[Mike Street @ Jan 8th 2008 9:14AM]

I with you on that one. If they make that announcement today I'm running to the Apple store to get one.

[Jason Collin @ Jan 8th 2008 8:23AM]

G5 Powerbook, at long last?

[Yours Smugly @ Jan 8th 2008 8:25AM]

Preparations for MacWorld with no visible changes (for now), methinks.

[Trevsweb @ Jan 8th 2008 8:26AM]

ipencil sharpener!!!

[Dan @ Jan 8th 2008 10:28AM]

Oh, you mean the iPoint? http://www.acmeunited.com/acme_west/index.php?did=1517&sname=Products

[fred @ Jan 8th 2008 8:29AM]

Well that was fun while it lasted.

Three days of actual gadget news, tons of videos and pictures from companies ignored by Engadget for fluff Apple stories, and some real excitement here.

All brought to a screeching halt for some stupid news-grabbing stunt by Apple.

[wiriamou @ Jan 8th 2008 8:47AM]

cry about it

[Lemmiwinks @ Jan 8th 2008 2:59PM]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/parenting/images/300/baby_crying_closeup.jpg

[Pablo @ Jan 8th 2008 8:34AM]

Hey!!! They're getting between me and a new MacBook Pro - Dangerous place to be. Guess I'll just have to go over to OWC and get a ModBook!

[jd @ Jan 8th 2008 8:29AM]

come on, what do you expect? Macbook Touch?

[Dunn @ Jan 8th 2008 8:34AM]

These are most likely spec bumps not worth mentioning during a Stevenote.

[Wiserun @ Jan 8th 2008 8:35AM]

Probably just reloading the refurb store again. I still can't figure out why they have to take the whole store down to add inventory to that section, but I've seen it happen several times.

[Mike @ Jan 8th 2008 8:36AM]

Quick! Queue up all the "This isn't news" and "Engadget = Apple Fanboys" comments!

[Travis @ Jan 8th 2008 8:41AM]

Hmmmmm.....new Apple TV to include DVR functionality and iTunes movie rentals??

[wirelessdeo @ Jan 8th 2008 8:42AM]

Looks to be back up now

[supermeerkat @ Jan 8th 2008 8:46AM]

Can't breathe properly due to excitement! Must speculate wildy! Can't fight it!

[supermeerkat @ Jan 8th 2008 8:46AM]

Can't breathe properly due to excitement! Must speculate wildy! Can't fight it!

[hotrodsemail @ Jan 8th 2008 8:48AM]

He should change his last name to Jibbz. It sounds better. Steve Jibbz.

[Paul @ Jan 8th 2008 8:49AM]

Hmm... someone should go through all the "Apple Store Down" posts and figure out how many of them have been false alarms. I know the majority of them have just been because apple is doing small updates.

Which brings up another point I have been thinking about, People are always pointing out how Apple is so superior to other Hardware / Software manufacturers, yet their website has to go down every time they add a product? That seems like poor web design if you ask me... (not that you are of course)

[Yours Smugly @ Jan 8th 2008 8:55AM]

@ Paul: but it adds to the hype, so it's all good for Apple.

[supermeerkat @ Jan 8th 2008 9:05AM]

"That seems like poor web design if you ask me... (not that you are of course)"

Not poor web design, good marketting more like. In this day and age of 24 hour service, where large companies websites going down is a major source of comment, this is an easy way of drawing attention.

[Lotzosushi. @ Jan 8th 2008 8:55AM]

Well, the store isn't up yet (as of this post at 7:54 Central) but there's already press releases.

New Mac Pro Updates: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080108/aqtu080.html?.v=35

New XServes: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080108/aqtu079.html?.v=34

Press Release: http://www.apple.com/pr/

[Kyle @ Jan 8th 2008 8:56AM]

Looks like Apple has revamped the Mac Pro (based on the new Apple front page).

[koz @ Jan 8th 2008 9:00AM]

It may be bad web design, but if I were Jobs I would leave it alone. Every time the site goes down for an update, all of the blogs make a note of it and then watch hyperactively for an update. End result? Free advertising!

[woofwoof75 @ Jan 8th 2008 9:04AM]

It's 8-core Mac Pro on Apple.com home

[Spaceman @ Jan 8th 2008 9:15AM]

Looks like the Mac Pro has gone to all 8-core version with max speed of 3.2 Ghz. Base video card will now drive two 30 monitors.

Xserves have gone 8-core too.

[Galley @ Jan 8th 2008 9:20AM]

They added new Mac Pros with Penryn and new Xserves.

[Mr. Vanker @ Jan 8th 2008 9:22AM]

Well as of 9:19, it's still down.

I'm not hyperactively watching it, I actaully just saw this story a minute ago... but I doubt there will be any iPod updates or anything (or if there is, it won't show up yet). It's a week before the keynote and it would be anti-climactic to start selling a product, a week or so before you officially present it to the public. I'm applying this mainly to things like the iPod, iPhone and other major consumer buys.

[Zuki @ Jan 8th 2008 9:22AM]

Gee...only an 8-core Mac Pro! I give it 5 seconds before the whiny Apple haters starting blathering on about how their Pentium II custom-built machine is still WAY better and faster than anything to come out of Cupertino. And also, how we're crazy for using hardware that we LOVE TO WORK ON. Oh and don't forget to hurry and accuse me of being a fanboy, even though I've been using Apple products since before most of them had their first zit!

[Galley @ Jan 8th 2008 9:22AM]

It looks like Bento is out of beta.

Now Available: Bento from FileMaker
FileMaker today announced the immediate availability of Bento, its stylish personal database. With an iTunes-inspired interface, Bento offers you an easy way to organize—in one convenient place—all your contacts, calendars, projects, events, media, and other data. Affordably priced at just $49 ($99 for a five-license family pack), Bento runs on Mac computers running Leopard. [Jan 08, 2008]

[Aaron Wanker @ Jan 8th 2008 9:25AM]

is this supposed to be related to the story? Spam? or are you trying to impress the guys at Engadget in order to get a job?

in it is the first option, then fine, I'll shut-up.

[Galley @ Jan 8th 2008 9:29AM]

It's an Apple product, and was part of the press release.

[Galley @ Jan 8th 2008 9:29AM]

It's an Apple product, and was part of the press release.

[tadghostal @ Jan 8th 2008 9:24AM]

iGadget (Engadget) is such a fanboy.

[Zuki @ Jan 8th 2008 9:26AM]

Holy Cow! It took two whole minutes…Thanks tadghostal!

[Aaron Wanker @ Jan 8th 2008 9:29AM]

dude Zuki just because you've been using macs since before most of us had our first zit, doesn't make you not a fanboy. It just makes you an older fanboy, or if you prefer, a fanman (assuming you are of the male persuasion).

[Zuki @ Jan 8th 2008 9:41AM]

Duly noted Aaron. I would say that the definition fanboy/fanman is almost 100% accurate in regards to me. What I'm getting at is that my brand loyalty has NOTHING to do with the "fannish" aspects of the company and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that I love working on the platform...and have since 1988.

[Aaron Wanker @ Jan 9th 2008 9:37AM]

Oh, alright thats fine then. I don't consider that fanboyism. If so, I'd be a fanboy of Apple and MSFT. I love Apple because of their ease of media manipulation, but I also love MSFT because they have great developer aspects, and it's what I've used most of my life.

[wrabbit @ Jan 8th 2008 9:29AM]

For crying out loud, stop reporting when the Apple store is down! Wait for it to go back online and then report on what's new - that's the interesting part.

And how come apple can't update their site without taking it down - is this 1996 or something?

[ahsan @ Jan 8th 2008 10:18AM]

Uh because of the publicity it obviously generates (see: this blog)

[michael @ Jan 8th 2008 6:01PM]

@ahsan:

I'm betting if the Sony store, the HP store, or even the Microsoft store site went down, Engadget won't blog about it.

It does garner publicity - to fanboys.

So if Engadget just posted what new things get added when the site comes back, that would be awesome. Why make people speculate? There's no point.

[Aaron Wanker @ Jan 8th 2008 9:31AM]

alright, sorry... I don't normally read press releases. And spamming on sites like this is a peeve of mine... although I must say that I'm surprised it doesn't happen more.

[Kamal @ Jan 8th 2008 11:09AM]

I wonder if their store server runs on their server hard/software. Apple store is down so much, I would want to know what server hardware/software they are using and avoid it like the plague. Seriously, how hard is it to run a website and upgrade it without taking the whole thing down for hours on end?

[mike @ Jan 8th 2008 1:26PM]

Yeah, and I wonder what hardware Microsoft was running when Xbox Live was down all that time over the holidays.