Briefly: Update for Snow Leopard, Apple Store down [U]
updated 01:55 am EDT, Tue March 20, 2012
Software Installer Update for Snow Leopard
Apple late yesterday took an unusual step in posting a software update specifically for Snow Leopard users that resolves an issue where certain Apple software fails to install properly. The update is for users on the last version of Snow Leopard, 10.6.8, and is recommended for all such users. It will show up automatically in Software Update on qualifying machines, and is available from Apple's support website with a filesize of 1.34MB.
Apple Store down for hours
MacNN readers have reported that the Apple Store online has been down worldwide since approximately midnight Eastern time. The last time the Apple Store online went offline, it was down for nearly four hours and heralded the introduction of the new iPad last Friday, March 16th. Interestingly, the new outage has begun at exactly the same time as the March 16th outage.
While no new products or significant updates are expected, Apple does favor Tuesdays when making changes to the online Apple Store. It could be a matter of updating shipping times on some products, or preparing for Friday's addition of more countries carrying the new iPad among other possibilities, but could also portend a new update or product being added to the store. If tonight's outage follows the pattern from Friday, observers can expect the store to return sometime shortly before 4 a.m. Eastern time.
Prior to March 16th, the most recent outage of the online store was a series of short disruptions on the afternoon of March 7th.
[Update]: The store returned online at 2:45 a.m. with no obvious changes.
