Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference sells out in record 10 hours

Apple began accepting registrations at 8:30 a.m. eastern time on Monday, but by 6:30 p.m., the $1599 conference had completely sold out. That's more than seven times as fast as last year's sellout, which took just 8 days.

The Cupertino, Calif., company announced on Monday that the event will run from June 6 through June 10 in San Francisco at the Moscone West center, which can accommodate roughly 5,000 attendees.

"At this year’s conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss."

However, a number of corporate developers have reported missing out on this year's event, as the conference sold out faster than they could secure approval for funds and other preparations necessary to attend.

Details of specific sessions have yet to be released, though Apple has reiterated its commitment to gaming by creating a Graphics, Media and Games technology track at the conference for the first time ever. Other tracks, which include Application Frameworks, Internet & Web, Developer Tools, and Core OS, are identical to last year's program.

Given the so-called 'gold rush' of developers drawn to the iOS platforms and record sales of Macs and the recently launched Mac App Store, this year's WWDC has drawn unprecedented attention. The fact that WWDC took four weeks to sell out in 2009 and just 8 days in 2010 serves as evidence of the significant increase of developer interest in Apple.

Although Apple has traditionally revealed an annual update to the iPhone at the conference, recent reports have suggested that the company will hold off on releasing a new device at the show, instead using the event to focus on software.

One rumor had suggested that Apple would preview the next version of iOS at WWDC, instead of at a press event in the spring as in years past. According to the report, iOS 5, which will reportedly include substantial integration with cloud-based services, would not be available until this fall.