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Apple's Online Store Down Ahead of Today's iPhone 7 Event

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Apple's online storefront has been taken offline this morning, less than six hours prior to the company's upcoming "See You on the 7th" media event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, where Tim Cook and other senior executives are expected to announce the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, second-generation Apple Watch, new Beats products, and possibly other updates.

apple-store-down-sep-2016.jpg

Apple will provide a live stream (spoiler free) of the keynote on the Apple TV and on iOS and Mac devices through its website, starting at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. MacRumors will also have full coverage of the event, with a live blog on our front page at MacRumors.com and updates in 140 characters or less through our @MacRumorsLive account on Twitter. Last week, we outlined what to expect at the event.

We'll also have specific coverage of today's announcements in separate news stories, and our community forums are a great place for readers to discuss the announcements before, during, and after the event. Be sure to keep tabs on the iPhone and Apple Watch sections in particular for the latest discussions.

Article Link: Apple's Online Store Down Ahead of Today's iPhone 7 Event
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/09/07/apple-online-store-down-sep-2016-event/
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I keep wondering if this is just a marketing trick or is the store technically really that bad that it can't add/update products within seconds? Just imagine Amazon would go down for hours each time they add a new product. Why would they voluntary loose half a day of business?
 
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Ah great.... I was actually checking out a new power socket for my Macbook when this happened... Am I going to have to wait another 12 hours before finishing?
 
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netwalker said:
I keep wondering if this is just a marketing trick or is the store technically really that bad that it can't add/update products within seconds. Just imagine Amazon would go down for hours each time they add a new product. Why would they voluntary loose half a day of business?
Click to expand...

I guess it stops people from ordering an iPhone 6s/plus on the same day and then complaining about it.
 
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netwalker said:
I keep wondering if this is just a marketing trick or is the store technically really that bad that it can't add/update products within seconds? Just imagine Amazon would go down for hours each time they add a new product. Why would they voluntary loose half a day of business?
Click to expand...

It's a hype thing. "Oooh, Apple have closed down their store, must be a big announcement." I know they do this multiple times a year but it's still enough to get the juices flowing!
 
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netwalker said:
I keep wondering if this is just a marketing trick or is the store technically really that bad that it can't add/update products within seconds? Just imagine Amazon would go down for hours each time they add a new product. Why would they voluntary loose half a day of business?
Click to expand...

Probably marketing trick as it can all be done dynamically - Yes for something like this you might want to take the page down for a few moments to swap everything but it doesn't take hours.

It probably helps stop people also buying something and then within moments asking for a refund
 
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Before someone says it, they do it for hype, and it works.

Of course they could silently update the store, they could do it within seconds.

And 6 hours of no business is nothing, they'll recuperate it within half amount of time once the store is back up.
 
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netwalker said:
I keep wondering if this is just a marketing trick or is the store technically really that bad that it can't add/update products within seconds? Just imagine Amazon would go down for hours each time they add a new product. Why would they voluntary loose half a day of business?
Click to expand...
I doubt that it is technical. They should already have everything loaded and will simply pull a switch after the announcement. My guess is that they do this for two reasons. One is, as you said, a marketing thing to build excitement. The other, more practical, is to avoid having people purchase the old product at the old price on the same day of the announcement. Again, just my guesses.

Edit: I see everyone responded faster than me. And we all seem to be in sync on one or both of the guesses I proposed. In any case, sorry for the repetition.
 
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captain cadet said:
Probably marketing trick as it can all be done dynamically - Yes for something like this you might want to take the page down for a few moments to swap everything but it doesn't take hours.

It probably helps stop people also buying something and then within moments asking for a refund
Click to expand...

I think this is a big part of it. Also it gives the fulfillment back channel a chance to slow down on shipping stuff and start getting ready for the storm of shipping the new products.
 
netwalker said:
I keep wondering if this is just a marketing trick or is the store technically really that bad that it can't add/update products within seconds? Just imagine Amazon would go down for hours each time they add a new product. Why would they voluntary loose half a day of business?
Click to expand...
Im sure it is a marketing ploy. We wouldn't be commenting on this article if it wasn't. Im sure that they have the infrastructure to have an updated site to flip to once they are ready to. Website management for big corps etc do that all the time.
 
TallManNY said:
I think this is a big part of it. Also it gives the fulfillment back channel a chance to slow down on shipping stuff and start getting ready for the storm of shipping the new products.
Click to expand...
But it does go up pretty quickly. Also Amazon adds lots of products that are going to sell well every day and they have the distrubiton network to do it seamless! Apple only do it a few times a year and the cost for them to get a bigger distribution system would probably cost a heck of a lot more than its worth!
 
captain cadet said:
But it does go up pretty quickly. Also Amazon adds lots of products that are going to sell well every day and they have the distrubiton network to do it seamless! Apple only do it a few times a year and the cost for them to get a bigger distribution system would probably cost a heck of a lot more than its worth!
Click to expand...

Yeah the web store goes back up quickly. But the new iPhones don't get shipped right away, so fulfillment gets a breather on the old stuff and gets to probably go full out on the iPhones. Amazon does have a great distribution system, but they don't do anything like ship the iPhone on launch day. No one else has a semi-secret device, that is highly valuable and also needs to ship millions upon millions over a weekend.
 
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