Windows Store is currently down for at least some Windows 8.1 users [Update: It's back]

It looks like at least some Windows 8 and 8.1 users are having issues connecting to the Windows Store today. We have received reports that the store is experiencing an outage, and we have also not been able to connect to the storefront on our own PCs and tablets.

We received the first tip about the problems just after 4 pm Eastern time. So far, there's no word as to why this might be happening. We will update this post when we know more or if the outage ends.

Earlier this week, Microsoft experienced a nearly 11 hour outage on its Azure cloud servers that affected many of its services. The company has now stated the problems were caused by an issue in a performance upgrade for Azure Storage.

Thanks to the folks that tipped us!

Update The Windows Store is back up and running.