![]() Some users have also had problems retrieving their iCloud information with Apple set to lose millions in lost online sales.
The crash has generated a wave of complaints on social media and directly with Apple.
The problems are estimated to be costing Apple more than $4m in lost sales from iTunes and the App Store per hour.
With these systems down, users are unable to buy new apps or install updates to ones that they already own. They will also be unable to buy music or videos from iTunes.
Apple’s website said the problems had begun at 6pm Sydney time resulting in Apple losing more than $40m in sales in a space of a few hours.
Apple has apologised for the problems. In a statement, it said: “We are apologise to our customers experiencing problems with iTunes and other services this morning. The cause was an internal DNS error at Apple.
“We’re working to make all of the services available to customers as soon as possible, and we thank everyone for their patience.”
Apple’s system status website indicated at the time of writing that the iTunes Store, App Store and Mac App Store were “unavailable for all users”.
The website says: “Customers may be unable to make purchases from the App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store, or Mac App Store.”
It also warns that many users are unable to access their iCloud Mail or sign-in to iCloud at all.
Users can access the iTune and App Store pages, but when they attempt to make a purchase they are being shown an error message which says “we could not complete your iTunes Store request”.
The issue is being reported by users around the world, however there appear to be geographic variations in the problem, with some customers seeing a spinning circle that indicates their song is being downloaded, when nothing is actually happening.
In 2014 Apple generated $18.06bn in sales from iTunes. If revenues have continued at the same rate this year, then the company could be losing more than $2m an hour, or $34,000 a minute, from iTunes. Apple could also be losing $2m an hour in App Store sales based on a similar calculation.
The Mac App and iBooks stores are also down.
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