They turn the store off when they introduce new products, I suspect more as a tradition than anything.
You wouldn't want an uninformed person buying an iPhone 3GS after Steve has already introduced the iPhone 4, but you don't want to put it up for sale yet because the media should be paying attention to Steve, not the store. If they just launched the item with all the specs on the store as soon as it was introduced in the keynote or media event or whatever, then it would ruin the suspense. Jobs is a salesman.
You wouldn't want an uninformed person buying an iPhone 3GS after Steve has already introduced the iPhone 4, but you don't want to put it up for sale yet because the media should be paying attention to Steve, not the store. If they just launched the item with all the specs on the store as soon as it was introduced in the keynote or media event or whatever, then it would ruin the suspense. Jobs is a salesman.