ITunes Connect Will Shut Down December 21st – 28th, No App Updates Or Price Changes

In a move that’s become pretty standard fare around major holidays, Apple will close down iTunes Connect, the portal used by iPhone, iPad and Mac developers to manage their apps during the Christmas holiday.

Beginning December 21st and running through December 28th, there will be no new app updates, no new apps available and no price changes during the course of that week. With the Apple review team taking time off, that also means the iTunes top 100 paid and free apps will stay static so expect a bunch of sales right before the 21st as developers try to push as high up on those lists as they can.

Here’s the email being sent out:

iTunes Connect will be temporarily shut down from Friday, December 21, 2012 to Friday, December 28, 2012, for the winter holidays. During this shutdown, the following functionality will be unavailable:

  • Access to iTunes Connect
  • Delivery of any apps or updates

Additionally, the following will be delayed:

  • Releases scheduled to appear on the App Store for the first time
  • Pricing changes scheduled through the interval pricing system in iTunes Connect

We strongly recommend that you do not schedule any pricing changes in iTunes Connect that would take effect between Friday, December 21, 2012 and Friday, December 28, 2012. Pricing changes scheduled to take effect during this date range will not be reflected on the App Store and your app or In-App Purchase will become unavailable for purchase until after the shutdown.

We also recommend that you do not schedule any apps to go live during the shutdown. Releases scheduled with a start date between Friday, December 21, 2012 and Friday, December 28, 2012 will not go live on the App Store until after the shutdown.

Regards,

The App Store team

If you’re a developer, you’ll want to take this time-frame under consideration and if you’re a customer, you’ll want to be ready before this time to buy, buy, buy as sales take place.

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