Apple Hit By Six-Hour iTunes Store Outage In Midst Of iCloud Crisis

The iTunes Store and App Store were both down for around six hours last night, a blow for Apple that follows widespread coverage of a celebrity photo leak that is believed to have originated from hackers targeting iCloud accounts.

9to5Mac reports that users first began reporting problems with the App Store and iTunes Store late on Tuesday evening. The Apple status page for its online services shows a downtime lasting from around midnight through to 5 am on Wednesday morning. According to Apple, "users may have been unable to access multiple stores or make purchases."

The outage stopped iPhone users downloading apps, with the App Store listing apps as unavailable.

Apple Insider reports that the outage spread to the desktop Mac app store, the iTunes music store, and the iBookstore.

Apple has been keen to show that its online services are back to normal following the celebrity nude photos that leaked online before Labor Day.

A statement released by Apple following the iCloud scandal made it clear that the company's online services had not been breached, yet the company is facing widespread criticism over its handling of the hack. The iTunes Store outage will give the company further problems ahead of its press event on Sept. 9, where it's expected to announce the launch of the iPhone 6.