Twitter throttled back as the Apple WWDC kicks off

The Twitter status blog reports this morning that several key services have been taken offline, including IM:

"User account restoration and deletion is currently disabled. We expect these services to be brought back tomorrow afternoon.

In addition, IM is still offline as we work to bring it back in a more stable form. The API rate limit remains at 30 requests per hour.

Some users are still reporting some timeline inconsistency issues and we’re working to track those down."

The blog doesn't specifically mention the Apple WWDC in San Francisco, but another company blog confirmed yesterday that engineers have been taking steps to handle today's increased WWDC load, including "utilizing more memcache, employing more read-slave servers, and by fixing some bugs for improved efficiency."

More news, commentary, and predictions from The Industry Standard:

• Analysis: Is Twitter worth $75 million? $150 million? How about none of the above?
• Analysis: Just 200,000 active Twitter users?
• Analysis: Twitter: Fanatical users help build the brand, but not revenue
• Prediction: Apple's iTunes to displace Wal-Mart as largest music retailer in U.S.
• Prediction: Twitter starts serving ads stateside
• Prediction: No next generation iPhones in the US before August 2008
• Special Feature: Where are they now? The Industry Standard tracks down 10 dot-coms from the Web bubble of the late 1990s
• Special Feature: The Industry Standard's Top 25 B-to-Z List Blogs
• Special Feature: 10 'Net services that will succeed (and 10 that will probably fail)