Does your iphone app appear immediately If you set an 'availability' date

Question

We are planning to coincide a major server release with an iPhone app release. The app is submitted and approved and has an availability set for the 'go live' date.

How does this date relate to when it appears in the app store? (immediately at 00:00?, sometime in the 24hr period?)

If the app is available worldwide, does the app appear in all timezones at the same time? If so, what timezone is used?

Answer 1

I remember when the Tapbots released Tweetbot recently that they used to tweet something like "Tweetbot is now available in Japan", and then a few hours later, "Tweetbot appeared on the App Store in Europe, and again a few hours later, "Tweetbot finally available in the US".

So it seems that the apps are released at midnight in the respective local time zone.

References:

• https://twitter.com/#!/viticci/status/58183093101658114
• https://twitter.com/#!/tapbot_paul/status/58213409308680192
• https://twitter.com/#!/tapbot_paul/status/58214812404027392
• https://twitter.com/#!/tapbot_paul/status/58305646835138561
• https://twitter.com/#!/tapbot_paul/status/58323755197399040

Edit: added links to some relevant tweets.