Apple Store Down [Updated]

As expected by many, Apple has taken its online store down for maintenance, possibly updating the venue with new versions of the all-in-one desktop Macintosh – the iMac – as well as new, beefed-up MacBooks. Softpedia wouldn’t say the discontinuing of one or two products is far-fetched either.

It is not surprising to see the Apple web store go down a mere day after Apple disclosed its fiscal 2009 fourth quarter earnings, which, by the way, exceeded both the company’s, and the analysts’ expectations again. By announcing its most profitable quarter ever, the Mac maker posted a revenue of $9.87 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.67 billion, with record Mac and iPhone sales. With all this behind, it is only logical for the company to focus on pushing upgrades onto potential customers. With all this attention, the timing is perfect!

Softpedia reported earlier this week that a German Mac-focused website (Mac Essentials) was pointing out to deals on iMacs, including 0% finance and a free HP printer, as indication that sellers had been tipped off on new iMac shipments. The German site said, “At next week, stay tuned: On Monday, the quarterly results on Tuesday ... an Apple Tuesday?” (Google Translate). For its part, Softpedia noted that, “Apple is known to fancy Tuesday upgrades or price cuts preceded by taking its online store down to make the proper adjustments to the listings.” Now that the expected has happened, we can only hope Mac Essentials’ projections were accurate.

Apple fans and users of a Macintosh computer will agree that the company’s all-in-one desktop Mac has been sort of neglected lately. The most recent hardware upgrade undergone by the system was the addition of high-performance NVIDIA graphics, close to the release of the unibody MacBooks. While Apple is likely to beef up the iMac again, price cuts may not be in order.

Update: the Apple store is back up with goodies.