Global outage shuts down Apple's iTunes, App stores

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple's widely used iTunes and app stores suffered a rare breakdown today, frustrating millions of music lovers and mobile device owners around the world.

The outages were still vexing the iPhone and iPad as of 1:30 p.m. Eastern time, based on status updates posed by Apple Inc. By then, the both the iTunes and app stores had been inaccessible for several hours to the exasperation of Apple users venting on social media and online forums.

Apple apologized for the inconvenience, blaming the problem on an internal error affecting the system for directing online traffic. The Cupertino, Calif., company said it was working to restore service as soon as possible.

Besides the iTunes and mobile app stores, Apple's online book store and app store for its Mac computers weren't working either.

The disruption affects some of the world's most widely used — and most profitable services.

About 800 million accounts with credit cards linked to them have been set up on Apple's iTunes store since it opened in 2003 to sell digital music for the company's iPods.