Apple Store is down worldwide, new iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Pro inbound?

Yes, it's that most exciting time of the week for all the Mac fanboys and fangirls, when the Apple Store goes down and nobody knows why. Okay, so we're pretty sure we know why, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be some other surprises afoot, and everybody loves a surprise -- except those with weak bladders or congenital heat defects, generally. Lovers of stylish desktops should be in for a treat today, but you just never know for sure until the site re-appears. We'll be watching closely for that to happen.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Augmented Insanity Posted Mar 3rd 2009 6:42AM]

OMG CAN'T WAIT.

*caps is cruise control for cool

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:27AM]

the sound of less then a million fangirls fapping
*shudders*

[rdowty Posted Mar 3rd 2009 6:43AM]

I'm shocked, no big event? I actually prefer this though. No days of anxiously waiting just wake up and new stuff. Now if the store would just come back online we'd all know what's the fuss.

[Toon Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:53AM]

Oh joy, oh joy! I can hardly contain myself, really!

[Mat Murray Posted Mar 3rd 2009 6:48AM]

OMFG.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 6:51AM]

Ah, I missed this.

[Cash9007 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 6:58AM]

Living with a congenital heat defect isn't a walk in the park Tim, try and show some sensitivity and compassion huh?

[LJKelley Posted Mar 3rd 2009 6:59AM]

F*** You, my friend died from a congenital heat defect...

But seriously I'm always hot... I keep the AC at like 68 in the summer.

[TimStevens Posted Mar 3rd 2009 6:59AM]

I know, my mother has one, and has been visiting ERs on a seemingly monthly basis thanks to it since I was in elementary school. Doesn't mean we have to be uptight about it.

[EI8HT Posted Mar 3rd 2009 8:07AM]

@ LJKelley:

it was a joke...if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? lighten up douche bag

[LJKelley Posted Mar 3rd 2009 8:17AM]

@ EI8HT

Maybe you should lighten up and detect my joke which is why the serious bit started with 'But seriously'. You must be new to the internet, because a common joke reply is F*** You my friend died of whatever you were joking about.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 6:52AM]

Great, I love it!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:03AM]

Big Day for Apple... I just got my App Store $$ this morning, too.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:00AM]

with no meeting/announcement/press event first?! seems odd for such a huge update...


Apple's probably just building hype for something in the coming weeks...

[mRichardy629 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 8:15AM]

this reason is why they dropped out of macworld, they want to release products on their schedules without worrying about rushing to make the deadline of the tradeshows

[fourthletter Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:02AM]

Back up in the UK with iLife and iWork 09 .....*Yawn*

[Doylemb Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:07AM]

Still down in UK

[Mat Murray Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:07AM]

YES! Oh my Lord this is possibly the best day EVER.

No, really. Fantastic news.

[LondonConsultant Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:20AM]

Try clicking on "Store" and you will see it's also currently down in the UK. We're talking about the Store (not the whole of Apple's web site) being down...

[ai4281 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:04AM]

They aren't having an event this time?

Either these updates are really really minor and incremental, or Apple has lost faith in Phil Schiller's ability to lead a keynote lol. I thought he did a good job last time though.

[barriecusvein Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:48AM]

Or they might have finally realised that hearing Steve/Phil/whoever stand on stage for an hour and repeat "It's really beautiful" / "Isn't it beautiful" / "It's really amazing" / "Isn't that incredible" etc. gets old after a while. We get it, you think it's pretty, move on...

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:04AM]

I'm praying that by some miracle Apple releases a netbook because I could really use one now! C'mon Apple you can do it!

[LondonConsultant Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:53AM]

eeeMac...

[LAY Posted Mar 3rd 2009 8:11AM]

So you want a "late to the party" "me too" "netbook clone/ripoff".

Sorry, Apple cant make one since they dont like when people "steal" ideas.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 8:23AM]

I'd rather have one of those and wouldn't even mind paying a premium than having to settle for a hackintosh. What can I say I'm a sucker for Apple designed products.

[fourthletter Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:04AM]

congenital heat defects

ummm.......should that read heart defect ?

[ACEACEACE Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:28AM]

Congenital heat defects - when two genitals are rubbed congruently to cause friction and malfunctions. How that applies contextually - Who gives a dam! It sounds kinky! lol

[LondonConsultant Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:54AM]

Great balls of fire!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:06AM]

OMG - It's enough to make you Jizz in your pants!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4

[killface Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:37AM]

that's what I was thinking, right before it happened

[hardrivn Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:07AM]

How come every other webmaster in the world can add a new product or page without taking out an entire site for like 30+ minutes? Must be those killer apple servers and their truely enterprise class management.

[Dummy00001 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:30AM]

I think this is an established tradition. If you had store downtime - look out for updates.

Also, I think Apple store has a polished look (e.g. compare to crappy HP on-line store, where you need like 100000 clicks to see anything) and relatively high volume of visitors. Since new products require changes to front page, I think they try to make sure that it all looks nice and beautiful - as it should.

P.S. Nevertheless, such downtimes piss me off too. I was doing stores which also had highly customized product pages (front page, promotions, rebates) and trivial versioning with future dates was making it dead simple for operator to literally replace whole site/look/products every hour if one wanted. But I guess plain web designers are not up to par with me system developer making quick buck on web design :D

[MioTheGreat Posted Mar 3rd 2009 8:08AM]

>Also, I think Apple store has a polished look (e.g. compare to crappy HP on-line store, where you need like 100000 clicks to see anything) and relatively high volume of visitors. Since new products require changes to front page, I think they try to make sure that it all looks nice and beautiful - as it should.

A properly designed CMS would make this trivial.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:09AM]

well... i got an option on the site. configure your mac how u want it.. was that there before?

[Doylemb Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:09AM]

I'm hoping for a Time Capsule at 1 and 2 TB storage at same price points. Then I'd get one

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:13AM]

ENGADGET should have a sweepstakes on USB PORTS......

[Dummy00001 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:18AM]

darn. i can't check delivery status of my MBP17... :|

[Ryback Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:30AM]

things that might justify taking down your web shop:
-comprehensive redesign
-malicious attack
-create hype

things that don't justify taking down your web shop:
-add articles to inventory

[Dummy00001 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:57AM]

> -create hype

But look here - you gave already the main reason!

Bad publicity's better than no publicity. And in the case all you need is to pull the plug to create a reason for everybody to talk about.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:30AM]

If this is what we think it could be...AWESOME.

If it isn't...NOT AWESOME.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:33AM]

OMG! I'm wet now...

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 8:17AM]

I would have thought all new content would have to go through approval process and signed off before going live - which should just take 1 click to upload all the new content?

Don't suppose anyone has called the their national Apple store to enquiry have they....?

[phobic99 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:45AM]

I hope the new Mini is released today. I've been wanting one of these for a while. I might even pick up another one for the living room.

[Shigana Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:45AM]

the mac pro WILL NOT be available today or tomorrow... it will be available at the end of march... intel has not begun production yet... afaik, intel will start production on nehalem chips at the end of Q1.

[Dummy00001 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:58AM]

Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:46AM]

Sorry guys to disappoint you but there are no new iMacs, Mac Minis or Mac Pros coming out today.

The only things Apple updates today are the new Unibody iPod Socks. Made out of a solid block of aluminium ;-)

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:52AM]

I lol'd at this.

[LondonConsultant Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:59AM]

And users can't wash those socks. After 1000 wear cycles, they have to be returned to Apple for dry cleaning.

[anus1220 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:50AM]

I never really understood why Apple has to shut down the store to update it.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:57AM]

its all for dramatic effect ;)