Right on schedule, Apple has shut down their online store for an update, complete with their usual cutesy post-it note. Since we're expecting the iPad 3 to be announced this afternoon, it's likely that they're just getting things ready to showcase new products.

Even if online ordering becomes available today or later this week, it's a safe assumption that a lot of folks will be lining up in front of the brick and mortar stores on launch day.

But tell the truth, you're hitting refresh every 30 seconds until it comes up, right?

So are we. Follow along with our live podcast starting at 10am PT/1am ET/6pm GMT and we'll find out together!

Just as expected, the online Apple Store has gone down in preparation for today's Let's Talk iPhone event. Within the hour we should find out what new gadgets will be featured on Apple's most likely revamped online store page. Whether it's an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5, we'll finally know.

Until then, we'll keep watching the Apple store for any changes. Let us know if you spot any! We'll be posting everything we know on our TiPb meta live-stream throughout the keynote.

So hop on and chat with us throughout the event!

Wow, still 3 hours to go before the iPad 2 event and the Apple Online Store is already down? The chances of iPad 2 being available to buy following the event are slim but could pre-orders start as soon as today? Could something else be getting an update? (No white iPhone 4 rumors, please!) Or is this just the worst scheduled maintenance window ever?

[Thanks Alexander!]

As expected, the Apple Online Store is down. It will no doubt come back up with wondrous new products announced at the Back to the Mac event, kicking off in an hour.

Commence with the guessing on what goes on sale immediately, and what's teased for release in a week or a month...

[store.apple.com]

The Apple Online Store is down and while normally Wednesday night would trigger "it's just maintenance" mode in me, there are announced products still awaiting "go live" status like the white iPhone 4! Seriously, though, that's delayed until the end of the year but there's still the 27" LED display, and all sorts of rumors about new Apple TV/iTV and 7" iPads that it's worth taking the gamble on a post.

Of course new iOS-related hardware is usually preceded by Steve Jobs showing it off on stage, so the odds of anything really surprising are low, low, low, but give us your best guess anyway.

Will there be anything new when the Apple Store comes back up, and what?

Updated: Nothing, it turns out.

TiPb nation, rev up your ZOMGS and get ready for SQUEEE -- the Apple Online Store is down world wide.

Now before you get too excited, this is not for the White iPhone 4. That's been delayed until later this year. Unfortunately, this time it's probably not for any iOS devices. If the rumors are true, what we'll see today are 12-proc Mac Pro, updated iMac, 27" LED displays, and maybe -- just maybe -- the MagicPad multitouch trackpad for the Mac.

Give us your best guesses in the comments and we'll find out just as soon as the store comes back up.

Looks like Apple's hype machine has once again succeeded in building interest for iPhone 4 to the degree that -- it's brought down the Apple Online Store. Taken down earlier tonight and brought back with iPhone 4 pre-orders, it was quickly overwhelmed.

Now it's down again, with Apple hopefully getting its server ducks in a row this time, especially for countries with multiple carriers like the UK where you can buy iPhone 4 completely unlocked if price is no object (£499 for 16GB, £599 for 32GB).

Don't hold your breath for a white option to come back with the store, however. That seems to condemned to late summer and later adopters.

If you see the Apple Online Store coming back up before we do, let us know!

UPDATE: Order status is back, do you see any differences?

ORIGINAL: If you have an iPad, iPod touch, or anything else, on order from Apple and want to check the status online, we have some bad news for you -- Apple has take their online order status down for the day.

My iPad 3G order, for example, just says Apple is updating their system and I can come back Sunday, May 16th.

UPDATE: Nothing for iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad owners to see here... unless you're also in the market for new Core i5/i7 MacBook Pros. Apple's got your press release and new MacBook Pro product pages ready. Now how about those international iPad pre-orders?

Here we go again -- the Apple Online Store is down! As Apple's strange and unique mix of old WebObjects technology and pre-launch hype bring it's online sales to a sticky noted halt, we're left to speculate as to what wondrous new gear may await us when it returns.

Bad news -- it's probably nothing iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related. iPad's already out and we won't see new iPhones before June/July or new iPod touch before September.

Good news -- rumor has it if you've been holding our for a new Core i5/i7 MacBook Pro you might be in for a treat.

Who knows though, could just be a new version of Apple Remote Desktop (or routine maintenance).

What are you hoping for?

The US Apple Online Store is down in advance today's US iPad pre-order kick off. It should be back up by 5:30am Pacific, 8:30am Eastern so shoppers around the country can nab themselves a magical new iPad for delivery or pick-up on April 3. We'll post the direct link as soon as it's live.

Now Apple Online Stores in other countries like Canada and the UK... well we're not sure why they're down since they're not getting iPad pre-orders (or iPads until "late April") so keep your eyes peeled and let us know what they come back with... if anything.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

The Apple Online Store is down again, and it's a Tuesday, and it's Macworld -- though sadly neither of those two things mean much anymore -- and so our email boxes are flooding with heads-up and excited guesses about everything from iPad pre-ordering going live, to MacBook Pro updates, to... Aperture 3.

Yeah, Aperture 3. Sorry iPad fans and MacBook hopefuls, but Apple has already put up a PR and so far that's it.

We'll updated, of course, if there's anything else.

It is a Tuesday after all, and Macworld...

UDPATE: Nothing. Behind-the-scenes maintenance or prep-work for some later update. Seriously. Can't find a difference...

ORIGINAL: Yes, the Apple Store is down. We have no idea if this is for iPad pre-order setup, for some other product update/refresh, or for behind-the-scenes maintenance.

If you have any ideas, let us know in the comments and we'll update as soon as it's back!

[Thanks to Andy for the tip!]

Yes, the Apple Online Store is DOWN! Following up yesterday's Daring Fireball of rumors, this is what we might just see soon:

Redesigned Plastic MacBooks, Redesigned (‘Impressive’) iMacs, Updated Minis (Including One That Ships With Mac OS X Server), the Multi-Touch Magic Mouse, and, as the Wildcard I’m-Not-Sure-I-Really-Believe-It-Myself Out-There Rumor, Maybe Even Some Sort of Mentioned-Nowhere-Else-But-in-This-Very-Headline Multi-Touch Trackpad Gadget for Desktop Macs

Or it could just be routine maintenance. Shug. Fingers crossed for the good stuff!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

The Apple Store is down! (Sure, it's totally perfunctory at this point, but any great milestone before the main event, we have to celebrate it).

Not much point in asking what will be updated at this point (iPod touch much?), we'll see as soon as Apple execs hit the stage, no doubt with a hearty line of "your interweb news cycles has belong to us!"

Um... it's not Tuesday, Apple's traditional update day. It's not even Wednesday, September 9th, rumored occasion for Apple's next annual Music Event for iTunes and the iPod (i.e. third gen iPod touch!). Yet, here we are, wee early hours of Monday morning (Cupertino time) and the Apple Store is down!

Those hoping it's for the iTablet, well, they probably have months of disappointment ahead. Most widespread guesses at this point are Snow Leopard, which likely has only a tangential connection to the iPhone, and even then only for Mac users.

The Apple Store should be back up soon enough, so in the meantime grab your favorite casual game, or just ponder what Amazon.com would be like if they took down the entire store every time there was an update...

UPDATE: Apple has released new versions of their pro apps, Final Cut Studio and Logic Studio. Not much for iPhone users, unless you count all the more/better iPhone-friendly movies, music, and other media that'll get made with these tools... (Right Matt?)

“With 1.4 million users and 50 percent of the market,* Final Cut Pro is the number one professional video editing application,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The new Final Cut Studio includes more than 100 new features and dramatically expands Apple’s ProRes family of codecs so editors can work in the studio with the highest quality video or on location at low bandwidths.”

ORIGINAL: The Apple Store is down. Chances are it isn't anything too related to TiPb, since iTablets, third generation iPod touches, and the like usually necessitate their own special events filled with pomp and circumstance. But Apple being Apple, we never can tell.

Could be an internal system upgrade. Could be a minor memory or processor overhaul to some Mac. Could be a new color or storage bump to an iPod. Could be the fabled iUnicorn tears.

We'll update soon as it comes back online. In the meantime, speculate away!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

And Lo, Apple opened the sixth seal and there was silence online. The Apple Store was down. (Seventh sign is Schiller hitting the stage, 'natch).

Will we see an actual new iPhone up for order, or just pre-sales info like last year? Or is this for something else, non-iPhone related entirely.

We'll know in less than 1 hour!

If it's a Tuesday, it's even odds Apple might be launching some new iteration of some wonderifical product. Could be something as small as a new iPod color or Mac processor speed bump, or as big as a complete re-design (without buttons, 'natch!). Or it could be nothing -- routine maintenance is such a Tuesday tease.

We'll know soon enough. In the meantime, we'll just speculate it might be a new 2TB version of the iPhone friendly Time Capsule router+hard drive, or maybe Apple has finally decided to sell their iUnicorn tears directly to the public?

We'll know soon enough, but please do drop your guesses, expert and outlandish, in the comments...

It's not that the Apple Store is down -- that happens fairly often. But on a Wednesday?! It's a running joke that Tuesdays are Apple product drops. Did Daylight Savings Time bump Apple not just 1, but 24 hours into the future? Tough to know.

Tougher to know what they'll be releasing this time, though chances of a 32GB red iPhone are next to none. MacRumors is hearing a 4GB iPod shuffle, though, which is scary big for a tiny device... and makes us think 32GB iPhone's aren't out of the question for an update later this year...

We repeat, this is not a drill! The Apple Store is Down! Reports are flooding in from all over the intertubes... Details are sketchy but could this be the Mac Mini, iMac, and Mac Pro update to bring in Nvidia chipsets and Nehalem cores? What about a new 30" LED Display? How about those iPhone friendlier Airport Extreme and Time Capsule base stations we just heard about? And what does this mean for that Apple Special event we heard rumored for March 24? Almost certainly no new iPhones yet, but last March was the iPhone SDK Road Map event...

Find your loved ones. Cling to them. And hold to hope. The Apple Store WILL be back. And it will once again restore your childlike sense of wonder.

The countdown has begun? Will we get super-cheaper-more-subsidized iPhones? Eh... probably not. Maybe some cash off the iPod Touch, though, along with the rest of the iPod line, and a few bills off the MacBooks.

Some rumors say bigger discounts than years past. Others maintain the same old, same slim.

We'll know soon enough!

If you manage to snag any great Apple discount swag, let us know!

We repeat, this is not a drill! The Apple Store is Down! Reports are flooding in from all over the intertubes... Details are sketchy but authorities urge everyone to stay calm and proceed to TiPb where Live Meta-Blog coverage of Apple's "The Spotlight Turns to MacBooks's" will begin soon!

Now find your loved ones. Cling to them. And hold to hope. The Apple Store WILL be back. And it will once again restore your childlike sense of wonder.

We're beyond the looking glass. Boom-time approaches people...

We repeat, this is not a drill! The Apple Store is Down! Reports are flooding in from all over the intertubes... Details are sketchy but authorities urge everyone to stay calm and proceed to TiPb where Live Meta-Blog coverage of Apple's Let's Rock Event will begin soon!

Now find your loved ones. Cling to them. And hold to hope. The Apple Store WILL be back. And it will once again restore your childlike sense of wonder.

We're beyond the looking glass. Boom-time approaches people...