View this article at: http://dev.macnn.com/articles/08/07/09/fifth.avenue.app.store
Wednesday, Jul 09, 2008 9:20am

Fifth Avenue closing on 10t...

Apple's flagship American store, the Fifth Avenue location in New York City, will temporarily close on July 10th, Apple has announced. The store will shutdown at midnight on the 10th, and only reopen several hours later at 8AM, allowing preparations for some of the first North American sales of the iPhone 3G. The closing is notable in that the Fifth Avenue location is normally open 24 hours a day, year-round, making tomorrow a rare disruption.

Anonymous sources are meanwhile claiming that the App Store, in theory only scheduled to go online on the 11th, will in fact go online by 12PM EST (5PM GMT) on the 10th for the US and the UK. Analysts with Music Ally observe that it "makes sense," as the 3G will go on sale at 12:01AM on the 11th in New Zealand's local time, equivalent to 1PM GMT or 8AM EST the previous day. The launch of the App Store should also signal the availability of the iPhone 2.0 firmware and iTunes 7.7, which are required for access.