Apple Store, tech sites crash after iPhone announcement

Notwithstanding an initial disappointment over its new iPhone, Apple's announcement of its latest device managed to crash some tech sites before dawn Wednesday (Manila time). A report on PC World said "almost every major tech site" suffered some downtime during the introduction of the new iPhone 4S. "In addition to some server hiccups here at PCWorld and at our sister publication Macworld, almost every site covering Apple’s event live – including Wired, Engadget and Ars Technica – suffered downtime. Even Apple itself wasn't spared as users rushed to order a new iPhone. Sadly pre-orders don’t begin until this Friday," it said. Even Apple's Apple Store suffered some downtime, according to a separate article on tech site Mashable. "As always during these announcements, the online Apple Store goes down — as it is now — only to return with new goodies in an hour or two," it said. PC World noted such downtime has been noted at almost every Apple event for the last few years. But the PC World article noted the websites affected managed to handle the huge traffic better than in past years. In the most recent announcement, it said most companies managed to weather the storm relatively well once the initial rush faded. "But unless they learn to better prepare (or the hype for Apple products dies down), this isn’t the last time we’ll see Apple crashing the tech world," it said. It said hosting company Rackspace has a history of keeping sites up during major rushes like Wednesday's Apple announcement. Joseph Palumbo, a managed cloud specialist for Rackspace, said their main task is to prepare early. He said resources need to be devoted beforehand since fixes on the day of the event rarely hold up. “At that point anything you’re doing is just a band-aid," he said. — TJD, GMA News