Every iOS developer has been made aware of this for quite some time now. Most of us knew it was coming before it was announced because they've been doing this every year for quite some time now. The itunes connect/app approval team needs a break. They work 51 weeks out of the year, including weekends (I've had an app get approved on a Sunday). They deserve a vacation more than anyone I know.
and for those that don't have a clue what this is or what relevance in holds:
"iTunes Connect is a suite of web-based tools that allow you to submit and manage your apps for distribution on the App Store and Mac App Store.
In iTunes Connect you can check the status of your contracts, set up your tax and banking information, obtain sales and finance reports, request promotional codes, and manage users, apps, metadata, and your In-App Purchase catalog."
http://developer.apple.com/support/resources/itunes-connect....
This shutdown happens every year and has at least one awesome effect for consumers: Price schedules are determined before the holiday and locked down from any changes until after the holiday. Since many game publishers are providing deep discounts during this period of time, this means you can take your time making purchasing decisions without worrying that a sale price will disappear if you don't buy right now.
Here are some examples of the amazing deals you can get in the App Store for the next few days:
Gameloft: http://toucharcade.com/2011/12/20/christmas-sale-gameloft-do...
EA: http://toucharcade.com/2011/12/20/christmas-sale-every-ea-pu...
Telltale: http://toucharcade.com/2011/12/19/christmas-sale-basicallyte...
Crescent Moon: http://toucharcade.com/2011/12/19/christmas-sale-all-of-cres...
Square Enix: http://toucharcade.com/2011/12/22/christmas-sale-square-enix...
This year I ended up buying every title listed from Crescent Moon and a bunch of titles from the others as well.