Apple Store Drops Offline Wednesday Morning

Apple’s Web-based store went offline Wednesday morning raising speculation that the company might have a surprise product announcement in store. The familiar “We’ll be back soon” notice often indicates that new products are being added to the store, although Apple’s track record usually puts those releases on Tuesdays instead of Wednesday.

Apple Store offline

Apple recently released OS X Lion along with new Thunderbolt-equipped MacBook Air and Mac mini models, the latest iMac refresh is still fairly recent, and the MacBook Pro was last updated in February. The only Mac model that hasn’t gotten any attention from Apple recently is the Mac Pro which is the only shipping Mac model that doesn’t include a Thunderbolt port.

Downtime at Apple’s online store doesn’t necessarily mean new hardware is being released. The site could be down for maintenance or other technical issues.

Be sure to check in with The Mac Observer for coverage of new product announcements should Apple really have a surprise in store for today.