Apple hosts developers for pre-WWDC Open House at Apple Park

By Malcolm Owen

Apple has hosted a gathering of developers the day before WWDC commences, with guests to the Apple Park campus given a tour of the new Developer Center.

On Sunday, Apple hosted an open house for the Developer Center located at Apple Park, which saw attendees go through a tour of the center's first floor. Greeted with coffee and donuts from Caffe Macs, visitors were ushered into the building to a reception by waving and cheering staff wearing masks.

In a series of photographs and videos shared to Twitter by author and developer Paul Hudson, visitors could tour a selection of rooms within the center. As typical for Apple, it was playful in its design of the rooms and the tour itself, hiding numerous elements for visitors to discover.

Room names in the building were taken from macOS releases, including Panther, Tiger, Leopard, and El Capitan. The rooms themselves are described by Hudson as like "an Apple Store just for developers," packed with technology and large screens

Strewn around the rooms were easter eggs, including a jacket that would've been provided to WWDC20 attendees but were received by Swift Student Challenge winners, whiteboard notices to check Xcode for other messages, and a reference to "Prototype Dolphin," which was a codename for some watchOS versions.

Much like the neighboring main Apple Park campus building, glass lined the outside of the Developer Center, which was manned by Apple employees. Guests were also taken to the Big Sur theater, which will be used for future presentations.

Swag was also handed out, including a tote bag, a Swift cap, an Apple water bottle, and a set of pins.