Apple’s iTunes Store, App Store Suffers Worldwide Outage, Apple Losing $2 Million Per Hour

Apple is experiencing worldwide outages with its iTunes Store and App Store, according to several reports. Users have taken to Twitter to share their experience with the outages, which has reportedly been happening in several countries and regions. Apple’s status page shows “green” across the board except for the iTunes Store, iBooks Store, and App Store.

The status page reads: “Customers may be unable to make purchases from the App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store, or Mac App Store.”

Apple has not taken to its @AppStore or @Itunes Twitter accounts to address the worldwide outage that’s affecting millions of its customers. The company has also ignored complaints from users. Instead, the App Store tweeted that users can download and play the mobile game Lastronaut. It sounds like Apple is still unaware of this worldwide problem.

“Control this little humanoid in an adrenaline-fueled dash for your life. http://tw.appstore.com/Lastronaut.”

ZDNet also reported that Apple is losing about $2 million per hour during this outage. The report says that Apple is losing around $2.2 million each hour for when its stores are down. The tech giant will make up for it since its iPhone sales have exceeded analysts’ predictions during its fiscal first quarter earnings. Apple sold nine iPhones every second, according to the report.

Issues with Apple’s stores were reported as early as 5 a.m. Wednesday morning. The issues have been affecting users on the iPhone, iPad and Mac platforms.

Many pages are showing errors or say “temporarily unavailable,” while apps and purchases are currently not going through at the moment. Apple also has not addressed whether the company has suffered a massive data breach or hack attack on its systems. It could lead to a very serious problem if it happens to be either of these instances.

This hasn’t stopped users from complaining on Apple’s forums about the outages. The outage also appears to be affecting GameCenter, iCloud, and Test Flight, according to several of the threads.

One user wrote: “I am trying to update one of my apps but when I get asked to sign into the Mac App Store I get a ‘Status_Code_Error’ appear in red letters to the bottom of the login window. I tried to email Apple Support but I get an Error 99 when using their support page.”

Other users have complained that they’re not able to enter their password, download products, or install updates.

Apple has not reached out to the media to a request for comment about the worldwide outage. The tech giant hasn’t yet to make an announcement or release a statement as to when the iTunes Store, App Store, and other services will be made available to users once again.

It’s been a busy week for Apple. The company just unveiled its Apple Watch Edition line and a gold MacBook with entirely new upgrades. There are also rumors swirling that the newest iPhone will come with Force Touch Technology and a pink color option.

Have you been experience issues with any of Apple’s stores, including iTunes and the App Store?

[Images: Apple]