Frustrated Apple customers say they are unable to buy songs, films and apps as the massively popular online stores go down.
Apple has admitted its global iTunes and App Stores have ground to a halt, with users blocked from completing their purchases.
The company’s status page lists the services as red-flagged and “unavailable for all users”.
The Mac App and iBooks stores are also down.
“Customers may be unable to make purchases from the App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store, or Mac App Store,” says the Apple timeline message.
Many users were also unable to sign in to their iCloud mail and storage, but Apple says those problems appear to be over.
Apple devices can access the stores and see the content, but users have been reporting a range of error messages when trying to buy a song, film or app.
Others say the download progress wheel has been disappearing without explanation.
Users around the world have been venting their frustration on social media.
“Come on #AppleStore #itunes #down #Trinidad,” tweeted one user.
“I explained to my son: ‘Apple is having a bad day at the office’ #iTunes AppStore DOWN World Wide!!” tweeted @AtlantaJJ.
The iTunes outage could be costing Apple several million dollars an hour, based on its revenues from last year.
But that is a drop in the ocean for the company, which recently posted the biggest quarterly profit in history – $18bn (£11.8bn).
The problems come days after the company lifted the lid on its much-anticipated entry into wearable technology – the Apple Watch.
The gadget, which comes out on 24 April, comes in a variety of versions, with the most expensive gold model costing £13,500.
