UPDATE. Right now, at 10.29pm PST the Apple store is down.  Yes, boys and girls, the page that always manages to create an endless array of conjecture, the one that reads “We’ll be right back”, is currently live at www.apple.com/store.

Is it the white iPhone?  Or perhaps a new set of Macbooks that Tim Cook alluded to last week, you know the ones that will include all SSD storage instead of spinning hard drives.   Our money is on the white iPhone but there is only one way to find out: wait until it’s back up.

Update: We’re not seeing any crazy changes to the Apple store’s inventory.  They’ve got the Valentines stuff up, though that could have happened a few days ago and we just missed it.  Anyway, long story short: no white iPhone or updated laptops.

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Going live Thursday January 6th 2011, the Mac App Store will be for everyone running Mac OS X Snow Leopard, and not for those attending the Consumer Electronics Show that opens the same day.

Apple does love a good scrap every now and then – and more and more often as of late.

Operating in ways similar to those of the iOS App store, meaning you just need an Apple ID and a credit card, you’ll from then on be forever one click away from low-cost but great indie software for the Mac.

It’s no more complicated than that, though Apple does manage to add some unnecessary snags along the way, by not allowing trial version within its store. And taking 30% of profits from developers, which seems a little steep, but it doesn’t concern you, dear consumer, so do rejoice, for the Mac App Store is opening January 6th and with the amount of apps fighting for a spot within, it’ll be a blast.

Here’s the press release:

CUPERTINO, California—December 16, 2010—Apple® today announced that the Mac® App Store℠ will open for business on Thursday, January 6. By bringing the revolutionary App Store experience to Mac OS® X, the Mac App Store makes discovering, installing and updating Mac apps easier than ever. The Mac App Store will be available in 90 countries at launch and will feature paid and free apps in categories like Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity and Utilities.

“The App Store revolutionized mobile apps,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun. We can’t wait to get started on January 6.”

The Mac App Store lets you browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what’s hot, view staff favorites, search categories and read customer ratings and reviews. Like on iPhone®, iPod touch® and iPad™, you can purchase, download and install apps in just one click and start using them immediately. Purchased apps can run on all of your personal Macs and updates are delivered directly through the Mac App Store so it’s easy to keep all of your apps up to date. The Mac App Store is available to Mac OS X Snow Leopard® users as a free download through Software Update.

Mac developers set the price for their apps, keep 70 percent of the sales revenue, are not charged for free apps and do not have to pay hosting, marketing or credit card fees. To find out more about developing for the Mac App Store visit developer.apple.com/programs/mac.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

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The Onion News has an exclusive scoop on Apple’s latest retail creation, the Friend Bar. The Friend Bar is specially designed to help frustrated friends and partners who tire of hearing the latest Apple or gadget blog news over and over. Check out the video to see the scoop for yourself.

If you’ve ever had a Genius Bar appointment at the Apple Store, than you’ve surely noticed that an employee has checked you in using an iPod touch.  If you’ve also ever bought something like an iPhone you’ve noticed they use Windows CE-based handhelds to complete your transaction.  Not for much longer.

Soon enough all Apple Store Employees will be able to deal with all purchases, returns, iPhone activations, through debit/credit cards and cash while using an iPod touch.

A new case and proprietary software is on its way that fits the Touch and is capable of being a magnetic stripe reader, barcode scanner, and can accept signatures using a stylus.  All sounding pretty cool, will it have a positive effect on the customer service experience?

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The launch of the iPhone 3GS pretty much went off without a hitch, so what prompted a man to enter the Apple Store in Arlington, Virginia and shoot a women in the shoulder today?  It looks to be an attempted robbery as the scene of the crime went down in the back room and didn’t occur in the store’s main shopping area or at the genius bar, Apple’s repair center.  Adding credence the robbery theory is a fake beard that was part of an all beige disguise.  Expect more details to emerge later tonight.  Fox video below.

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