Indeed, the keynote is now recorded, and there is no longer a real physical WWDCwith labs, conferences and meetings with developers.
WWDC: the annual meeting of developers
Historically, WWDC took place over a full week at the Moscone Center, in the heart of San Francisco, and the program was busy. You also had to choose your conferences carefully, based on your software affinities.
The conference was also punctuated social events, evenings, including Stump the Experts
, a kind of funny game between Apple developers and engineers, the Apple Design Awards, concerts and even new conferences on the last day, with personalities like Buzz Aldrin who I had the chance to listen to around ten years ago now.
Between 5,000 and 10,000 people were present on siteeven if with the success of the iPhone, it became more and more difficult to be drawn for the privilege of spending €1,500 (+ accommodation) in order to be able to attend WWDC.
A recorded WWDC in small groups
From now on, Tim Cook has decided, the WWDC is only virtual, and you will have to follow it online from the site or the ad-hoc mobile application.
The interest is twofold for Apple: less organization, less frustration too (although), and above all, Apple engineers are no longer mobilized outside their offices for a full week, which was quite detrimental for development. Conversely, the community loses a highlight of the year : nothing replaces physical meetings and the sharing of knowledge, the WWDC was also a place for exchanges and even business for certain publishers.
Apple is still inviting a few more developers to participate on sitewe saw him this morning with around fifty students from Distinguished Swift Student Challenge
who were surprised to be able to meet Tim Cook.
For the rest, the keynote is therefore recorded, and Apple is only offering a few places (drawn at random) to watch the video in Cupertinoa very relative privilege because from Europe, you still have to travel, which is no longer really worth it.
Even more astonishing, Apple continues to fly influencers and some journalists there, even though there is no product to present other than the new OS. It is above all a matter of obtaining a coverage under the best auspices of the participantsthe latter being pampered with luxury hotels and business-class seats, which are difficult to refuse, at the risk of losing your precious accreditation.
WWDC was also an opportunity to enter the world of Apple, which had some surprises in store for its community. This is still the case this year, with these goodies, made up of Pins, transport bags, a small thermos…
Thank you Clement!
Apple has even been particularly generous for this 2024 edition, we would almost regret not being there! Let’s hope that Apple spoils us this evening, and that the announcements around AI are not just nice promises only available next year….
See you this evening at 7 p.m. on Mac4Ever for the live transcription of WWDC!
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