Apple’s iTunes and App stores are experiencing outages, preventing users from making purchases or downloading applications.
Users in countries including the US, Switzerland, Hong Kong and the U.K. reported getting error messages or having difficulty when trying to install or update apps or log in to their accounts.
"The iTunes Store is temporarily unable to process purchases. You may continue to browse the store, but please try your purchase again later," an Apple message said about 9am New York time.
Users in several countries posted on Apple’s online support bulletin board getting the message “STATUS_CODE_ERROR” on the App Store’s login window.
A user in Australia reported being unable to log in to his account or make a purchase for an hour.
On Twitter, people aired grievances using the hash tags #appstoredown and #itunesdown.
A user was able to make a purchase from the company’s Apple Store website.
The company’s system-status Web page showed that all of its services, stores and iCloud were working normally as of 9.20am. Apple didn’t immediately return calls seeking comments. The Apple Store was closed briefly Monday as the company unveiled its smartwatch and a new Macbook at an event in San Francisco.
The Apple Watch will be priced from $350 to more than $10,000 and go on sale April 24.
Bloomberg
