Applications open for Apple's WWDC in-person developer Special Event

Interesting.

I previously and incorrectly guessed that this event would be large and offsite (away from Apple Park).

Now it appears to be limited, onsite and includes the unveiling of a new Developers Center at Apple Park. I'm wondering if they repurposed an existing building or if they constructed something new.

mpantone said:

Interesting.

I previously and incorrectly guessed that this event would be large and offsite (away from Apple Park).

Now it appears to be limited, onsite and includes the unveiling of a new Developers Center at Apple Park. I'm wondering if they repurposed an existing building or if they constructed something new.

If they used one of the older building across the freeway close to the shops it would help keep local shopping vital while the staff numbers are down for covid.

I'm not convinced that would help at this point in time.

Vallco mall has been mostly demolished; even before the pandemic it was a derelict coffin. Note that local shopping has mostly rebounded back to pre-pandemic levels at least according to the owners of Valley Fair Mall. In a few months the new Eataly complex should be opening up at Valley Fair.

The developer/property owner and the residents have been arguing for years about the best way to use the Vallco property and they still haven't come to an agreement.

Can Cupertino be successful with a destination shopping mall for a handful of visiting developers and other guests to Apple? Or should the mall operator focus on servicing the local community? Personally I don't think Vallco can compete with Valley Fair/Santana Row. Mall visitation numbers had been plummeting for years before the pandemic hit.

And even if there were stores at Vallco (there aren't anymore), is the volume of Developer Center visitors enough to make an impact? If most of the stores are the same ones you can find in your nearby hometown mall (Abercrombie & Fitch, Victoria's Secret, The Gap, whatever) wherever you live (Des Moines, Boise, Raleigh, Austin) how special is Cupertino's Vallco mall?

And there's the question of what impression does a developer complex across the freeway communicate? There are security and access considerations of course as we've seen with the Apple Park Apple Store which is across the street from the spaceship.

The R&D campus in the southeast corner of the Apple Park property has its own security perimeter and parking facilities, isolated from the spaceship. Now that Jony Ives is gone, it's possible that the R&D team have been mostly assimilated back into the spaceship campus (and also working from home) leaving those buildings available for use.

I wrote:

"And there's the question of what impression does a developer complex across the freeway communicate? There are security and access considerations of course as we've seen with the Apple Park Apple Store which is across the street from the spaceship."

Unsurprisingly the new Apple Developer Center is not within the Apple Park Campus security perimeter. It is actually across the street next to the Apple Park Apple Store, east side of Tantau Avenue. It is physically isolated from Apple Park and its facilities.

Apple did not repurpose existing construction like the R&D complex at Tantau 9.