Ina Fried

Recent Posts by Ina Fried

Apple’s Online Store Is Down, Sending Customer Anticipation Up

Apple took down its online store Thursday evening, which has often been a sign that the company is ready with new products.

The company is expected to have a separate in-person event later this month for the launch of a smaller iPad tablet, so it’s unlikely to be that. Apple has already announced the iPhone 5 and an update to the full iPod line. But, with the holiday season ready to kick off, it could be a time for the company to make some last-minute changes to its Mac line, as well.

Also, Friday marks the anniversary of Steve Jobs’ death a year ago.

Typically, store outages only last a couple of hours, given that Apple does so much volume via its Web site.

In the meantime, Apple’s store can serve as a language tutor for anyone who wants to know how to say “We’ll be back soon” in a whole bunch of different languages.

Update:
Looks like Apple used this brief outage not to add new product to its store, but to post a text and video remembrance of its late co-founder. You’ll find the video on Apple’s Web site and the letter from CEO Tim Cook below.

A message from Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

Steve’s passing one year ago today was a sad and difficult time for all of us. I hope that today everyone will reflect on his extraordinary life and the many ways he made the world a better place.

One of the greatest gifts Steve gave to the world is Apple. No company has ever inspired such creativity or set such high standards for itself. Our values originated from Steve and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We share the great privilege and responsibility of carrying his legacy into the future.

I’m incredibly proud of the work we are doing, delivering products that our customers love and dreaming up new ones that will delight them down the road. It’s a wonderful tribute to Steve’s memory and everything he stood for.

– Tim

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The problem with the Billionaire Savior phase of the newspaper collapse has always been that billionaires don’t tend to like the kind of authority-questioning journalism that upsets the status quo.

— Ryan Chittum, writing in the Columbia Journalism Review about the promise of Pierre Omidyar’s new media venture with Glenn Greenwald