If we saw the typical "Ships in 1-2 weeks" here or whatever, we wouldn't be sounding an alarm, but something is going on here. Both Apple's US and UK online stores are joining the O2 choir and are now reporting the iPhone as "currently unavailable" -- no 8GB, no 16GB, no nothing. It seems that Apple either significantly underestimated demand for the 2.5G models ahead of the 3G release that's still a few weeks (or months) down the road, or the 3G model is a whole heck of a lot closer than we could've imagined. Is anyone suddenly having a nasty case of "I only want what I can't have" syndrome and regretting that they didn't order one of these bad boys a day or two ago?

[Via GadgetKing, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

C'mon, you knew this was coming. It's Tuesday -- didn't your ultra-sensitive Apple radar go all blinky pink on you as soon as the clock struck midnight? No? Guess that was just us. At any rate, it's clear something is afoot, and if those buzzes about MacBook and / or MacBook Pro refreshes we heard all day yesterday are right, there's gonna be some happy fanboys out there today. If they were wrong? Do the words Cupertino Riot of '08 mean anything to you? Stay tuned here for absolute, up-to-the-minute, breaking news. Huzzah! Oh, and we also see the UK / Australia outlets (among others) are also temporarily out of service. Goodie.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Sigh. You know the drill. A couple hours of downtime and then we'll see nothing (maintenance), or new products that range from the mundane (Aperture 2) to the golly (32GB iPod touch). We already saw the iPod shuffle drop by $30 this morning before Apple pulled the plug on the store. Perhaps the $100 drops on the iPhone and touch are just minutes away? It is Tuesday after all.

The Apple Store is back online with Aperture 2 for $199 but little else. While Aperture 2 is certainly a boon to the pro photographers among us, it seems abundantly clear that this Tuesday isn't bringing you a MacBook Pro update, which fills us with great sadness. We were also hoping for that Apple TV (take 2) update to finally hit, or perhaps a MacBook spec bump, but no dice there either. Perhaps this whole "unreasonable optimism" thing is overrated.

Listen up pilgrims. It's Apple's favorite product launch day -- Tuesday -- and we're once again sitting on a pile of rumors. So what's it going to be? A 16GB bump to the iPhone, new MacBook Pros running Intel's latest mobile Penryn processor with enhanced multi-touch touchpad, or maybe a few more countries added to the iPhone rollout in Europe? Who knows. Really, anyone know?

Just in case you were really, really anxious to get your hands on the MacBook Air, word on the street is that the little slivers are already in stores, and you'll actually be able to stroll up into the place and nab them this Tuesday. Of course, old Jobsy has already said as much ("two weeks"), but the Boy Genius is making extra-dextra sure that everyone knows they really will be on the floor come next week. If you're lucky enough to be employed by Apple as a "Genius," then you'll be getting some Air training tomorrow. Hey, it's never too late to sign up and instantly be accepted for a job... oh, wait, it probably is.

Just in case you had the slightest fear that ole Steve wouldn't be introducing something worth updating the Apple store over, well, consider that fear squashed. Yep, the e-doors to the online Apple store are indeed closed, and we're betting they'll remain tightly sealed until that "one more thing" is unveiled.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

We got a chance to preview the new Manhattan Apple Store this morning before the official unveiling tomorrow at 6PM. The store is nicely situated on W. 14th St. and 9th Ave., and while Apple did its best to blend into the existing early 20th century architecture, it's still a hard one to miss. The store itself is lacking the glass elevator of its 5th Ave. counterpart, but makes up for it with an epic three story glass staircase. It's the second-largest Apple Store in the US, with a full floor dedicated to service -- the genius bar can handle about 30 customers per hour. There are 175 employees total, and the store will be open until midnight every day of the week. We asked Ron Johnson, Apple's Senior VP of Retail, about how the growth of Apple into kiosks at other retail establishments such as Best Buy is impacting Apple Retail, and he responded that there's "plenty of room" for both, since Apple just had its best quarter ever in Mac sales and at Apple Stores simultaneously. He did say the ratio of new stores is going to move a bit more in the international direction, since there's a lot of room to grow there. We also asked about Genius Bar wait times, and he assured us that it's something Apple monitors constantly and continues to add staff to address.

Although it's been down several times in the last few months without new product introductions, we have a sneaking suspicion that we're due for news related to Leopard and possibly iTunes pricing. Who knows, maybe they'll even toss in a "deep red" iPhone while they're at it. So hold tight, the Apple store should be back in a few...

Korea's Chosun Ilbo English language site is reporting that Apple will be the exclusive retailer of Samsung's "world's slimmest monochrome laser printer" ML-1630 and multi-function SCX-4500. Otherwise known as the "Swan" and "Logan" respectively, they are expected to hit shelves starting will remain Apple exclusives until January 2008 at Apple's 160 or so retail stores -- a first for a Samsung product. According to an unnamed Samsung official, "Apple suggested the exclusive sales of Samsung's new printers at its retail stores. Apple is charmed by their sleek design and convenient user interface." How sweet. But until we see a press release from either Apple or Samsung, we'll chalk this one up to rumor mongering for the time being.

Update: The pair is already available "exclusively" from Apple's on-line store for $200 and $300 and should be on Apple shelves already.

[Thanks, AC]

Europeans have been waiting in constant anticipation since June 29th to hear when and in what form their version of the iPhone will take. The rumors pretty much revolve around which carriers in which regions will get the phone, with a hint of speculation about a 3G update in HSDPA and UMTS rife Europe. Will Apple give us what we all want, or are we looking at the same ol' locked EDGE phone, this time with three or more different equivalents of AT&T? Or will Apple throw a fast one on us all and announce one more thing? Tomorrow morning -- or evening, or afternoon -- we'll be there to find out.

Go here and bookmark this page, it's where the action takes place in London tomorrow morning.

11:00PM - Hawaii (September 17th)
2:00AM - Pacific
3:00AM - Mountain
4:00AM - Central
5:00AM - Eastern
10:00AM - London
11:00AM - Paris
6:00PM - Tokyo

Got any more timezones / comments / predictions? Now's the time to let loose in the comments. Of course, you can still opt out of all this Apple news by checking this link.

Update: Woops! We changed the URL slightly for the date -- we're working on an automatic forward, or you can re-bookmark above.

Buckle yourselves in, the Apple store is down (globally) and should come back with plenty of new action. Ready for it?