iOS iTunes Connect unavailable December 23-December 28

[Darkroom]

Repost from Apple Developer Forums:

iTunes Connect unavailable December 23-December 28
Dec 11, 2009 11:26 AM

iTunes Connect, the tool you use to manage your applications and access your reports, will be unavailable December 23 through December 28, 2009. Access to iTunes Connect will resume on Tuesday, December 29, 2009.

Additionally, the In App Purchase sandbox environment will also be unavailable at this time.

Please plan accordingly.

Thank you.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Will apps continue to be approved during this period or will Apple actually go five days without approving a single app?

 

[AndyCodez]

Its christmas would you really want to work? Give them people some time off lol. I imagine no apps will be approved during this time period.

 

[johnnyjibbs]

What about app sales? iTunes Store still operates during Christmas so how do we get our daily reports? Apple deletes them after a measly 7 days (for daily reports) so we don't have much time, even if they store and deliver them as one.

And as for app approvals - what did they do last year?

I sent an app for approval on Thursday. By Friday it has already moved status from 'Waiting For Review' to 'In Review'. It's still 'In Review'. How long do they spend on each app? Will they just suspend anything or are they lying when they say 'In Review'?

 

[Darkroom]

i wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to post an app for christmas. with all the spam apps showing up recently, i'm willing to bet that the december 25 app store is going to be a dump site.

 

[hoosierfan24]

when will i be able to sales trend reports then if i cant access itunes connect

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I'm just thinking of the unfair advantage that will be gained by the last few apps to be approved before Christmas. They'll be sitting on the most recently added list for a fair bit longer than anyone else.

I'm still targetting to submit to Apple tomorrow and hope they approve by Janurary third...

 

[Darkroom]

I'm just thinking of the unfair advantage that will be gained by the last few apps to be approved before Christmas. They'll be sitting on the most recently added list for a fair bit longer than anyone else.

I'm still targetting to submit to Apple tomorrow and hope they approve by Janurary third...

i don't think it will work like that. i have a new lite version app that was approved this past weekend, but i had set the release date for December 26th. i'm assuming there will be lots of apps showing up during christmas that were approved days and weeks prior to apple shutting down for the holidays.

 

[North Bronson]

i don't think it will work like that. i have a new lite version app that was approved this past weekend, but i had set the release date for December 26th. i'm assuming there will be lots of apps showing up during christmas that were approved days and weeks prior to apple shutting down for the holidays.

Since iTunes Connect will be down, are you sure that your application will appear on the store if the release date is in the "blackout" week?

 

[Darkroom]

Since iTunes Connect will be down, are you sure that your application will appear on the store if the release date is in the "blackout" week?

i thought that's what would happen, but apple just sent out the following email to developers with release dates scheduled during their holiday shutdown:

Dear iPhone Developer,
You are receiving this email because you have one or more applications that have an available date set to a date during the iTunes Holiday Shutdown (December 23-28). This means that the affected app(s) will NOT go live on the App Store on your specified date but will instead go live when iTunes Connect goes back online December 29th, 2009.

If you would like your app to go live before December 29th, 2009, it is recommended that you login to iTunes Connect IMMEDIATELY and change your available date to today since iTunes Connect will be shutdown beginning tomorrow. This will ensure that your app is selling on the App Store before the iTunes Holiday Shutdown begins.

To change your available date, locate your app in Manage Your Applications, click Edit Information, then click on the Pricing tab. Don't forget to Save Changes. You can also refer to the iTunes Connect Developer Guide for more information on changing your available date.

http://itunesconnect.apple.com/docs/iTunesConnect_DeveloperGuide.pdf

If you do not mind your app going live on December 29th, 2009, no further action is required from you

Regards,

iTunes Connect Support

this is good news to avoid days of spam during the holidays, and potentially great for developers releasing new work, which will remain on the new release list until the 29th. assuming, of course, that spam developers haven't loaded the app store with their spam for today's date, i haven't checked.