
The Apple Store is down - antfarm
http://www.apple.com/shop/
======
roemerb
I wonder if this is just some marketing trick where this message is somehow
more profitable for them than just having the store open during this time or
that their store backend is just so crappy that they actually need this much
time to add a few new products.

~~~
DocTomoe
Well, I could easily see how someone who ordered a product seconds before it's
successor rolls out would feel shafted, so this might just be good marketing.

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mrmondo
This isn't titled correctly, the store isn't 'down' as the title suggests in a
way in which it crashed or there is some big problem.

The chances are this is just a part of the process of a regular mid-term
product refresh which aligns both with physical products and some site design
/ marketing.

It's not a big deal unless you're at the point where you're about to purchase
a product but are holding off as there may be a refresh occurring - in which
case it's likely this is good for you and will just be updated versions of the
existing products.

This kind of hype is not created by the company / marketing, it's created by
people speculating.

Remember - just chill, it might be a nice product refresh, which will either
mean the old models will drop in price (new or second hand) and the new models
might be what you want, OR the new refreshed models don't peak your interest /
needs and you don't feel like you want to purchase it for any reason, but
prices of the previous models will drop a little which is nice also.

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brianbreslin
quick everyone speculate on what it could be! Apple Cars! Apple TVs Apple
Goggles Apple Visors Apple Fruit

~~~
anonnyj
Apple Eraser

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empath75
[https://www.macrumors.com/2017/03/13/apple-new-products-
as-s...](https://www.macrumors.com/2017/03/13/apple-new-products-as-soon-as-
next-week/)

New iPad pros, supposedly.

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sarreph
I must say, as the inventors of the Retina Display, they're doing goof by
serving waiting message assets at 1x.

Hopefully, it's just me — but I'm running it on Safari on OS X...

~~~
heavymark
It's an animated gif, weighing in at 4MB, which is already massive, do if they
doubled the resolution that would be very large for a very subtle visual
difference for that particular graphic. The file name includes 1x, so I
believe it's intentional for performance reasons.

~~~
sarreph
Good point — but why would they do that, when they're so set on the UX
benefits of retina assets? They seem to manage it everywhere else on their
site...

Couldn't they lazily-load a 2x gif, or use CSS transitions?

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fishnchips
Looks like this 'downtime' is just a smart marketing trick.

~~~
heavymark
Interesting where do you see that confirmation? I would be beyond surprised if
they used their "Something special in store" for regular maintenance, versus
their' We'll be back. Or if you mean yes, they are going to be adding new
products but you consider that smart marketing to do versus having a more
typical event, then yes, I agree it's smart marketing.

~~~
fishnchips
I mean that this does not look like regular maintenance. Clearly though not
being able to sell your products for a few hours is a bummer, but the hype you
create offsets the revenue loss.

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candiodari
Maintenance was announced. We should know in a little over an hour.

~~~
candiodari
Back up. iPhone in Red. Hurray (?)

[http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/special-edition-
iphone-...](http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/special-edition-iphone-7)

iPad 9.7 (non-Pro)

[http://www.apple.com/ipad-9.7/](http://www.apple.com/ipad-9.7/)

No pencil or keyboard support. $329 for 32GB or $429 for 128G

~~~
gorbachev
The Nintendo Way of revenue generation: vary the size and color of your gadget
every 3 months, and you can print money.

This worked for Nintendo for a very, very long time with the different
versions of DS. Until it didn't.

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ramanujank
what a way to make a new product announcement! cannot help admiring the way
they market stuff.

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swagv1
So are my pants

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icantdrive55
Oh--the drama. Yea, I get it. These days we need some healthy excitement. The
iPad Pro is the one product I might buy; if I wasen't so poor, and didn't have
a slowly dying iPad 2.

