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Apple's annual developer conference sells out in record time

Apple said Tuesday that WWDC 2009 has completely sold out, marking the second time in as many years that its annual developers conference will fill to capacity as programmers descend on San Francisco to hear the latest on Mac and iPhone software development.

This year's conference sold out in a little over four weeks, nearly twice as fast as last year's event, which was the first time in the show's history that Apple was forced to halt the registration process.

WWDC has grown dramatically in recent years, prompting Apple to move the event from the original underground Moscone Center into the modern new Moscone West building. In 2007, Apple set a record for WWDC attendance with 5,000 developers from around the world. This year's conference will see even more attendees.

On its developer web site, under the notice that WWDC 2009 has sold out, Apple says, "Session videos will be available to purchase shortly after the conference. More details will be available soon."

The Cupertino-based company is expected to use its opening keynote at this year's conference to show off a feature complete version of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. It's also a likely stage for the electronics maker to take the wraps off its third-generation iPhone hardware, a move which would mirror that of years past.

WWDC 2009 runs June 8th through the 12th. For a recap of last year's announcements, see AppleInsider's WWDC topics page.



29 Comments

hobbit 21 Years · 526 comments

Wow.
That's 1 1/2 months in advance! It's not even May yet...

Shouldn't they just get a bigger venue?!?

Seems like Apple is missing out on a lot of developers interested in the platform which now will not be able to attend.
A lost business opportunity. Which likely does not make good business sense.

Having a sold out WWDC is good marketing news.
But they should sell out the week before opening, not 1 1/2 months in advance.

hiimamac 17 Years · 543 comments

Agree.

A larger venue would be great. Somewhat suspicios as Apple always has a motive when they release "SPIN" like this.

Love the keynotes but it's getting kind if boring hearing the same thing over and over the first :30 minutes and how Apple has grown. Lots of self patting on the back. Good stuff isn't until halfway in.

Hoping the re-invent something ala tablet.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hobBIT

Wow.
Tagr 1 1/2 months in advance! It's not even May yet...

Shouldn't they just get a bigger venue?!?

Seems like Apple is missing out on a lot of developers interested in the platform which now will not be able to attend.
A lost business opportunity. Which likely does not make good business sense.

Having a sold out WWDC is good marketing news.
But they should sell out the week before opening, not 1 1/2 months in advance.

solipsism 19 Years · 25701 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by hobBIT

Wow.
That's 1 1/2 months in advance! It's not even May yet...

Shouldn't they just get a bigger venue?!?

They really need a bigger venue than Moscone can offer, but what building around that area (plus hotels) can deal with over 5,000 geeks for a week and all the support staff and all the classes. Perhaps they should hold it in Las Vegas where it would be hard to sell out.

jeffdm 21 Years · 12733 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism

They really need a bigger venue than Moscone can offer, but what building around that area (plus hotels) can deal with over 5,000 geeks for a week and all the support staff and all the classes. Perhaps they should hold it in Las Vegas where it would be hard to sell out.

If Moscone is the biggest that region has to offer, then they would have to pretty far afield, Vegas looks like the next closest thing that's sure to handle the business. LA is a little closer, but I wonder if that would be a serious contender in their considerations.

That might be a problem as Apple would have to increase the travel & lodging budget significantly, given the high proportion of Apple employees to attendees, which I thought was something like a 1:5 ratio. Moscone is only 45 minutes away from Cupertino, Vegas is as much as 8 hours away. If they have to fly or bus over 1000+ employees, give them a hotel room and other expenses, that could be a tough pill to swallow, when Moscone is maybe a regular commute away for most employees.

nvidia2008 18 Years · 9117 comments

Well, here's my 2 cents.

1. Bigger venue may not be "manageable"... You need more event management subcontractors, etc. Maybe more than Apple can handle.

2. SF Bay Area = most of Apple staff and Apple partner companies need not arrange for housing, etc. 'Tis convenient.

3. This is a big "F**K YOU" to Macworld and IDG. Maybe Apple's saying, hey, WTF, we could organise "iPhoneWorld San Francisco January 2010" and it would be a massive hit...