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Apple Takes Online Store Down Region by Region Ahead of Black Friday Gift-Card Event

The downtime is Apple’s yearly Black Friday prep for a limited-time gift card promotion.

Overview

  • The gift card offer is already live in Australia and New Zealand after brief storefront outages there.
  • The store is offline in the U.K. and parts of Europe, and the U.S. storefront is displaying a “be right back” message with Canada expected next.
  • Apple’s promotion runs November 28 through December 1 and adds a gift card with eligible purchases rather than cutting list prices.
  • In the U.S., gift card values range from $25 to $200, according to Apple’s announcement reported by MacRumors.
  • Coverage stresses this is routine maintenance for the annual event and not a signal of new product launches, and notes resellers like Amazon may offer steeper direct discounts.