14 DAY TRIAL // Today, May 3rd (Tuesday), Apple has taken down its online store amid rumors of an iMac refresh, as well as a potential upgrade to iWork 11.
Over the past two weeks, multiple reports have claimed that iMac shipments were dwindling down in what appeared to be a clearing of stock to make room for systems upgraded with the new Sandy Bridge processor architecture and Thunderbolt I/O technology, both from Apple’s long time partner, Intel.
Last week, when the White iPhone 4 was going on sale at Apple, the company took its online store down for maintenance spurring speculation that new iMacs were also on the table. The rumors did not materialize.
The last time Apple refreshed the iMac was early last year and while the computer is not particularly overdue for a refresh, the timing is good to throw in technologies already employed by the MacBook Pro line of laptops.
However, this is not the only thing we’re expecting to see emerge on the Apple online store once the Mac maker switches the lights back on.
Customers attempting to grab the trial version of iWork 09 have reported difficulties in downloading the productivity suite in what seems to indicate that a new iWork 11 is on the way too.
References to the updated suite have also been found in Apple’s own promotional materials.
Currently, iWork sells both as a boxed suite, and as individual apps. Pages, Keynote and Numbers each cost 20 bucks on the Mac App Store.
As it is always the case with Apple taking down its store, Softpedia will be back with an update as soon as we spot the changes at store.apple.com the instant Apple takes it back online.
In the meanwhile, those anticipating more than iMac and iWork refreshes are more than welcome to speculate in the comments.
Update: although the Apple store is yet to be accessible, Apple has announced new iMac models with Thunderbolt technology, faster processors, and HD FaceTime cameras.