On Sunday, Apple's online store was down for what were rumored to be price cuts for the company's Macintosh line of computers. However, as soon as the store was back up, no observable changes were spotted, as far as pricing went. Apple did, however, perform maintenance on the store's interface, particularly on the shopping cart screen. Before-after imagery is available below.

To our surprise, Apple took down its online store on Sunday evening, posting the routine banner saying, “We are busy updating the store for you and will be back shortly.” Earlier last week, AppleInsider posted a hot topic, telling Apple was to introduce more affordable Macs, citing reliable sources. While the move is not touted in the report as having anything to do with Microsoft's aggressive ad campaign saying Macs are too expensive for what they can offer to the end-user, this possibility isn't denied either. However, as Sunday later proved, Apple turned off the lights in its online store for mere maintenance.

TUAW reported Apple's move on Sunday, following with an update thanks to faithful readers who, for their part, supplied the site with information regarding the new changes as soon as the store was back online. Specifically, reader Joachim pointed out to changes with the shopping cart screen. The tweaks are obvious in these two comparison shots.



Screen #1 - Old cart UI; Screen #2 - New cart UI
Credits: Joachim via TUAW

Unfortunately for those waiting on for the big break from Apple, the Mac maker is currently listing the same introductory prices for its entire line of desktop and portable computers, as well as its portable media players, iPhone and Apple TV. Apple seldom pulls its online store down for maintenance, and generally does so on Tuesdays, in order to update the venue with new products, hardware upgrades and / or more affordable offers.

Despite the disappointment with Sunday's simple aesthetic tweaks to the online store, Apple is still expected to introduce more affordable Macs soon. The company may issue the announcement before the debut of its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, scheduled next month.