Reports Say Apple Killed the App Store for iOS 3.1.3
Whether it’s a backend glitch or an intentional pulling remains to be seen
Reports from all over the globe seem to confirm that Apple has effectively cut all ties between iOS 3 and the App Store, with multiple users reporting failed attempts to download software directly to their iPhones, iPod touches, and even iPads (running iOS 3.2).
While many iDevice owners will agree that staying on iOS 3.1.3 means you’re missing out on quite a bit of goodness, there are some people who have very solid reasons not to upgrade.
Whether it’s because they don’t care much about the new stuff, or because don’t want a fuss, or because their battery life is better on that particular firmware version, some people today are stuck on iOS 3.1.3 - last in the 3.x series of incremental updates from Cupertino.
Well, these people are also stuck without an App Store now, according to the latest reports. Whether or not this is a temporary glitch on Apple’s end remains to be seen.
The iTunes Store has been acting up lately, and it’s most likely related to the iTunes Match rollout.
Last week, Apple announced that both the iTunes Store and its music matching service were launching in Latin America. The rollout continued through the week with an International release of iTunes Match in key territories like the UK, Canada, Australia and Spain.
But the rollout was premature. Although Apple had indeed planned the international launch, it wasn’t until later into the week that such plans were due to go into effect.
Around the same time I reported a clear misbehavior of the iTunes App Store in Romania. Whenever the user would attempt to switch countries by clicking on the flags, iTunes would churn up an error saying “the item you’ve requested isn’t available in the Romania store”.
Everything’s fine now on that end, and hopefully Apple will address the App Store problem for iOS 3.1.3 users as well. Unless they’ve killed it intentionally, that is.
Can you confirm the same behavior on your iOS 3 device? Sound off in the comments.