Apple is updating and expanding their web services everyday. (Not when we get errors link this in iTunes connect –
Gateway Timeout
The proxy server did not receive a timely response from the upstream server.

Reference #1.9cdef50.126545364576.a7f3846)
After all the bad press on the app approval process, they are trying to improve the experience for developers and they added a clock that displays the percentage of apps approved within the last 14 days.

The clock covers shows the percentage of new applications that are approved (98%) and the percentage of new updates that are approved. Gradually, the service is becoming ever more complete and satisfactory for the developers.

Also, it seems that , if your app is approved it will be available in the appstore in 5-7 days now. That is great news, but they still need to drastically improve things because on the android platform, apps are approved almost instantly.

Approval Process Turnaround time Reduced is a post from: The Apple Bites