Developers react to WWDC ticketing issues
This year’s Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) sold out in a matter of minutes, leading Apple to announce the convention would be streamed online for developers who couldn’t get tickets. The demand has grown exponentially, while the size of the conference has not. With such intense demand, and tickets in short supply, some developers are taking to their blogs to suggest ways the conference can improve in the future.
Dan Wood of Karelia Software thinks that since video of the talks will be available online, the only real pain is the loss of labs and social opportunities to meet with other developers. As time has passed the event as outgrown the format.
Maybe the problem is that when Apple started WWDC, it made sense to have the entire world invited. These days, there are too many Mac and iOS developers in the world. Seeing that the talks are going to be made available online, it’s really the labs and the socializing that we will all be missing.
But do all those need to be concentrated in a single week, in a single place? What if Apple made the sessions be online only, as Daniel suggestions, and come up with a series of regional conferences/labs around the world, based on developer population?
TUAW’s own Erica Sadun suggested the conference switch to a lottery system for ticketing to make ticket distribution more fair and efficient.
Sure, the results are still random, but distributing purchase requests over a week or month surely would avoid the technology-based limits created by so much demand at a single moment (not to mention sleepless nights caused by time zone differentials).
Red Sweater Software founder and co-host of the Core Intuition podcast Daniel Jalkut wrote a similar piece, only his called for the outright end of WWDC due to its growth. At this point, the number of developers has grown to the point that entry itself is a barrier.
The conference has room for at most 5,000 developers. According to Apple’s job stimulus statistics, there are 275,000 or more registered iOS developers alone. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that Mac developers add only 25,000, bringing the total to 300,000. Every year, 5,000 attendees are selected from the qualified pool, meaning just 1 out of 60, or 1.5 percent of potential attendees will have the chance to attend.
Jalkut goes on to say that neither the goals of developers or Apple itself are met with the current standard. A majority of developers are left out of labs and training and Apple misses out on educating potentially profitable developers. Showing the talks online is a good start he says, but focusing on improving existing Developer Technical Support could improve developer product and provide information year round.
Finally, Oliver Drobnik of Cocoanetics sees an opportunity for Apple to encourage the growth of students, particularly women, in the field by activating a scholarship for young developers, including help with living expenses during the conference without the barriers of the current scholarship. Under the current rules, only someone who is in a program seeking a Bachelor’s of Science is eligible for the scholarship. As more and more young developers start learning programming in their childhood, such restrictions create arbitrary walls that keep out students who are wonderful programmers, but lack the resources to afford college.
While the controversy surrounding this year’s WWDC ticketing, and future events as well, won’t be solved with blog posts, it is interesting to see the development community reach out and search for answers to their common problems. It remains to be seen how, or if, Apple will respond to these concerns.
Developers react to WWDC ticketing issues originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 08 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog
App Developers’ Conference dated, call for papers open now
GDC is the Game Developers’ Conference that happens every year up in San Francisco, and the company also hosts a number of other GDC events all over the world. Usually, they do GDC Online in Austin, TX every fall, but that conference has recently been changed into two different conferences, both of which are set to take place later this year in Los Angeles. One half of the conference will be called GDC Next, and will focus on the future of gaming development, featuring things like the new Ouya console, cloud gaming, and next generation platforms. And the other half is now called the App Developers’ Conference, and will focus on not just game development, but mobile app development as well.
Both shows are being held in Los Angeles on November 5-7, 2013, and both shows are now open for submissions for panels and talks. ADC is obviously looking for app makers who can speak on the design, business, and actual programming of apps, so there will undoubtedly be some talented iOS developers there that week. If you have a great idea you’d like to present, you’ll need to get your submission in by May 29.
It’s interesting to note this change. The official GDC itself has also been swinging more towards mobile game development, and away from major studio talks and presentations. This last year at GDC, there was an indie scene like I’ve never experienced before, and while some of that was driven by major publishers like Sony and Microsoft, much of it has to do with Apple’s App Store and other mobile opportunities. As a result, more than ever of GDC is dedicated specifically to smaller mobile developers, and these two new conferences are part of that push.
App Developers’ Conference dated, call for papers open now originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog
Apple offers select developers another chance to purchase WWDC 2013 tickets
With tickets to WWDC 2013 selling out in mere minutes, Apple has reportedly been reaching out to select developers who couldn’t secure tickets in time and offering them another chance to purchase tickets to Apple’s annual developer conference.
Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software sent out a tweet on Thursday afternoon noting:
Adding a bit more detail to the story, Eric Dolecki explained on his blog how Apple contacted him:
I pick up and a nice guy tells me he’s from Apple Developer Support and that they noticed that I tried to purchase a ticket today and that the transaction didn’t go through. I told him that was true. I thought the next thing out of his mouth would be an apology or something – just to be nice. He then proceeds to tell me that he’s got good news – a ticket has been reserved for me in my name and that I’ll be receiving an email from Developer Support within 12 hours with instructions on how to purchase the pass. He thanked me for supporting the platform, etc.
It remains unclear just how many other developers were contacted by Apple, but MacRumors notes that a number of other developers have stories which match Dolecki’s.
While developers who weren’t able to purchase tickets to WWDC can still watch online video feeds of developer sessions, there’s arguably no adequate replacement for the opportunity to meet face to face with more than 1,000 Apple engineers and network with fellow iOS and OS X developers.
Going forward, developer interest in WWDC is only bound to increase as Apple’s iOS ecosystem becomes more popular and profitable with each passing quarter. To that end, developing a system that fairly doles out WWDC tickets to interested developers is increasingly becoming a problem without a clear-cut solution.
One solution worth pondering was put forth by Erica Sadun and has Apple abandoning the first come, first serve WWDC ticketing system and implementing a lottery system:
So why not switch to a less intense lottery system? Sure, the results are still random, but distributing purchase requests over a week or month surely would avoid the technology-based limits created by so much demand at a single moment (not to mention sleepless nights caused by time zone differentials).
Another, and admittedly much bolder solution, comes from the aforementioned Jalkut who writes that WWDC may have worn out its usefulness altogether.
As the sheer number of Apple developers increases, the capacity of WWDC remains the same. The goals of the conference both for Apple and for developers are increasingly unmet as the number of developers who would like to be educated, indoctrinated and communed with far outweighs the number of developers who actually can be.
…
The whole point of the conference needs to be rethought, and the goals addressed from scratch using new approaches. As the greatest challenge for WWDC is in scaling to meet demand, I think it’s obvious that the rethought WWDC should be considered in terms of digital solutions. Call it WWDC if you like, but it needs to take place 365 days a year instead of 4. It needs to serve 300,000 developers, not 5,000. And it needs to take place online, not within the cramped confines of a small convention center in San Francisco.
WWDC 2013 is slated to kick off on June 10, 2013.
Apple offers select developers another chance to purchase WWDC 2013 tickets originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog
Apple offers select developers another chance to purchase WWDC 2013 tickets
With tickets to WWDC 2013 selling out in mere minutes, Apple has reportedly been reaching out to select developers who couldn’t secure tickets in time and offering them another chance to purchase tickets to Apple’s annual developer conference.
Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software sent out a tweet on Thursday afternoon noting:
Adding a bit more detail to the story, Eric Dolecki explained on his blog how Apple contacted him:
I pick up and a nice guy tells me he’s from Apple Developer Support and that they noticed that I tried to purchase a ticket today and that the transaction didn’t go through. I told him that was true. I thought the next thing out of his mouth would be an apology or something – just to be nice. He then proceeds to tell me that he’s got good news – a ticket has been reserved for me in my name and that I’ll be receiving an email from Developer Support within 12 hours with instructions on how to purchase the pass. He thanked me for supporting the platform, etc.
It remains unclear just how many other developers were contacted by Apple, but MacRumors notes that a number of other developers have stories which match Dolecki’s.
While developers who weren’t able to purchase tickets to WWDC can still watch online video feeds of developer sessions, there’s arguably no adequate replacement for the opportunity to meet face to face with more than 1,000 Apple engineers and network with fellow iOS and OS X developers.
Going forward, developer interest in WWDC is only bound to increase as Apple’s iOS ecosystem becomes more popular and profitable with each passing quarter. To that end, developing a system that fairly doles out WWDC tickets to interested developers is increasingly becoming a problem without a clear-cut solution.
One solution worth pondering was put forth by Erica Sadun and has Apple abandoning the first come, first serve WWDC ticketing system and implementing a lottery system:
So why not switch to a less intense lottery system? Sure, the results are still random, but distributing purchase requests over a week or month surely would avoid the technology-based limits created by so much demand at a single moment (not to mention sleepless nights caused by time zone differentials).
Another, and admittedly much bolder solution, comes from the aforementioned Jalkut who writes that WWDC may have worn out its usefulness altogether.
As the sheer number of Apple developers increases, the capacity of WWDC remains the same. The goals of the conference both for Apple and for developers are increasingly unmet as the number of developers who would like to be educated, indoctrinated and communed with far outweighs the number of developers who actually can be.
…
The whole point of the conference needs to be rethought, and the goals addressed from scratch using new approaches. As the greatest challenge for WWDC is in scaling to meet demand, I think it’s obvious that the rethought WWDC should be considered in terms of digital solutions. Call it WWDC if you like, but it needs to take place 365 days a year instead of 4. It needs to serve 300,000 developers, not 5,000. And it needs to take place online, not within the cramped confines of a small convention center in San Francisco.
WWDC 2013 is slated to kick off on June 10, 2013.
Apple offers select developers another chance to purchase WWDC 2013 tickets originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog
Apple ‘Hitting the Road’ With New Tech Talks Tour for Developers This Fall
Apple today announced on its developer news website that it will be “hitting the road” with individual Tech Talk sessions for developers this fall (via The Next Web). The news comes a day after tickets for the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) sold out in two minutes.
Enthusiasm for WWDC 2013 has been incredible, with tickets selling out in record time. For those who can’t join us in San Francisco, you can still take advantage of great WWDC content, as we’ll be posting videos of all our sessions during the conference. We’ll also be hitting the road this fall with Tech Talks in a city near you. Hope to see you there.
With the quick sellout, even some developers who thought they were purchasing their tickets in time experienced difficulties with the checkout process, and Apple contacted some of those affected developers yesterday to offer them a second chance at purchasing tickets. For those who missed out on WWDC tickets but would still like to take advantage of some the excitement and opportunities surrounding the event, a free alternative to WWDC called AltWWDC has also been announced.
Still, demand for access to Apple engineers remains high, and the company has apparently seen fit to revive its Tech Talks tour in order to make contact with additional developers who are unable to attend WWDC.
Apple has not yet announced which cities the Tech Talks will take place in, but the company may share more details around WWDC, which takes place June 10-14 at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco. Apple last held its Tech Talks tour to support the launch of iOS 5 in late 2011 and early 2012, taking its show to 9 cities around the world.
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Apple reportedly offering WWDC tickets to select developers after quick sell-out
After selling out of tickets to its Worldwide Developers Conference in less than two minutes, Apple is reportedly calling a select number of developers with a chance to purchase
AppleInsider – Frontpage News
Apple Offering 150 Free WWDC Tickets to Student Developers
Apple announced its 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this morning, with plans to put tickets up for sale tomorrow at 10am.
Tickets for WWDC can be hard to come by and sold out within two hours last year, but current students might be able to attend the conference through a WWDC 2013 Student Scholarship.
Apple has set aside 150 scholarships for full or part-time students aged 13 years or older. Students must be current members of the iOS Developer Program, iOS Developer University Program, iOS Developer Enterprise Program, or Mac Developer Program.
To win a scholarship, students must submit an application and create an app that demonstrates both creativity and strong coding abilities.
Use your creativity and coding skills to build an app that tells us about you. Your app should highlight development projects you’ve worked on, your educational and professional background, technical skills, and interests.
Scholarship applications must be submitted by Thursday, May 2, 2013 and will be judged on technical accomplishment, creativity, essay questions, and technical/work experience.
WWDC 2013 is set to take place from June 10–14 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Tickets will go on sale tomorrow, April 25 at 10 a.m. PDT for $1599 each.
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Apple Offering 150 Free WWDC Tickets to Student Developers
Apple announced its 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this morning, with plans to put tickets up for sale tomorrow at 10am.
Tickets for WWDC can be hard to come by and sold out within two hours last year, but current students might be able to attend the conference through a WWDC 2013 Student Scholarship.
Apple has set aside 150 scholarships for full or part-time students aged 13 years or older. Students must be current members of the iOS Developer Program, iOS Developer University Program, iOS Developer Enterprise Program, or Mac Developer Program.
To win a scholarship, students must submit an application and create an app that demonstrates both creativity and strong coding abilities.
Use your creativity and coding skills to build an app that tells us about you. Your app should highlight development projects you’ve worked on, your educational and professional background, technical skills, and interests.
Scholarship applications must be submitted by Thursday, May 2, 2013 and will be judged on technical accomplishment, creativity, essay questions, and technical/work experience.
WWDC 2013 is set to take place from June 10–14 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Tickets will go on sale tomorrow, April 25 at 10 a.m. PDT for $1599 each.
Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories
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• First Reviews of Samsung Galaxy S4: Great Screen, Gimmick Features, Bad Plastic Design
• Apple Reaches 45B App Downloads With $9B Paid to Developers
• GoComics Offers Free Classic Comic Strips Like 'Peanuts' and 'Calvin and Hobbes'
• iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013
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Apple Worldwide Developers Conference to Kick Off June 10 in San Francisco
Apple announced that it will hold its annual
Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) June 10 through June 14 at San Francisco’s Moscone West. At the five-day conference, developers from around the world will learn about the future of iOS and OS X. WWDC will also feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by over 1,000 Apple engineers and hands-on labs to help developers integrate new technologies. And the popular Apple Design Awards will showcase the most outstanding apps available through the App Store and Mac App Store. Tickets for this year’s WWDC go on sale Thursday, April 25, at 10 a.m. PDT.
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