After a long hard fought year, Apple plans to let employees take some extra time off for Thanksgiving, and just like last year, they plan to close iTunes Connect for a week during Christmas, meaning developers won’t be able to push out app updates from December 21st till December 28th.
Apple sent an email to developers earlier today confirming that iTunes Connect will be closed for the holidays. iTunes Connect is the developer portal used to manage applications to sell in the App Store, meaning developers won’t be able to submit new apps or app updates during that time.
“iTunes Connect will be temporarily shut down from Friday, December 21, 2012 to Friday, December 28, 2012, for the winter holidays.
[…]
Additionally, the following will be delayed:
Releases scheduled to appear on the App Store for the first time
Pricing changes scheduled through the interval pricing system in iTunes Connect”
Apple shut down iTunes Connect for developers last year as well from December 22nd till December 29th. As long as apps are submitted before December 21st they can still be downloaded while iTunes Connect is closed.
Source: MacStories