WWDC 2012 (June 11 - 15) | Hacker News Reader

WWDC 2012 (June 11 - 15)

developer.apple.com

109 pointsjimmyhwang59 comments

Seems cruel to release it so early PST... how many people are going to wake up this morning having missed the opportunity to buy tickets? :)

I think PST got the early jump last year, so fair's fair.

oh right, that was back in 2011, when the Earth spun the other direction- it's funny how fast you get used to things like that.

Right. Because that's more likely than Apple having opened sales at a different time.

I think his point was more that, when it's 7AM in PST, it's already 10AM in EST and ~3-4PM in Europe... that makes it hard for PST to "get the early jump" considering everyone else in Europe/America is most likely already awake...

PST??? Until this year, I was in HST!

Tickets are now limited to 1 per person, or 5 per organization, which should help with scalping problems from previous years:

https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/tickets/

It's going to be a tight squeeze - most of the hotel space is already filled in the city due to the US Open taking place over a superset of these dates.

Time for Airbnb to roll out their campaign.

Not only that, but you have to be a registered Paid developer to buy your ticket. And no transfers.

Should eliminate most scalping issues.

......aaaaaaand sold out. In 2 hours. Wow!

Hotels with Apple-negotiated room rates are available here: http://www.chmweb.com/HomeAttendee.aspx?ShowKey=35822617116 (via the WWDC FAQ: https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/faq/)

Putting tickets on sale at 5:30am west coast time was a pretty dick move.

The tickets are always going to be on sale at a bad time somewhere in the world.

Sure, but would it be too much for Apple to announce that time a mere 24 hours in advance?

I realize that's not really Apple's style, but it would at least give everyone a chance to play.

Alternatively - this ensured everyone in the community got a ticket, because everyone was calling everyone to let them know that tickets were on sale. Not great for the isolated developer - but, with only 4500 or so seats available - somebody is going to be left out.

Edit: Okay - perhaps "everyone" is a bit of a reach. Let's just say there was a _bias_ towards people in the community, as their friends and colleagues started SMSing them and calling them to purchase tickets. Though, there will clearly be an east coast / european bias this year - perhaps that was deliberate?

I'm part of the west coast Cocoa/iOS community and only about ~10% of got a ticket (I work on Growl). Prominent devs from Square, Instagram, and other startups that I know didn't get a ticket that all have been going since 2006.

They picked the time in a way that it was night across the Pacific (where nearly no one lives). That way it was a bit late in Japan and a bit early on the West Coast.

The world doesn't start and end with the West Coast, especially not for Apple (and those on the West Coast are the best connected anyway, the most likely to learn quickly about the WWDC).

It doesn't matter how connected I am if I'm sleeping.

I don't understand why they don't offer a second class of "virtual tickets" where you get the same access to prerelease software and live streaming of sessions. As far as I can tell there are 3 "decoupled" reasons to attend wwdc: 1. Sessions and info, 2. Asking real apple employees questions, and 3. Meeting other devs/socializing.

I know lots of people that currently just do #3 without a ticket. Similarly #1 becomes possible for everyone after they release the videos. So really the only genuine reason to attend is #2 -- real deal access to apple devs. Under this perspective it seems less likely there would be such frenzied demand if everyone had a shot of viewing the sessions and getting the redacted info at the same time. It would also save a lot of people the need to buy a plane ticket and hotel on top of this already expensive endeavor, if all they want is to see sessions.

So basically, imagine something like a $500 virtual wwdc pass where you get a live stream, and a $1600 "Pro" pass where you get the perks of being there in person.

iOS6 should be quite an event - assuming everyone on iOS5 does the simple OTA update, it will be one of the biggest and fastest adoptions of a new OS ever.

I'm really interested in what new features might leverage that. To some extent, iMessage is the best example so far, instantly adding features to text conversations between iOS users.

A more complete iCloud SDK? Something about the logo that makes me think of this image:

http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4f96e37b69beddd2100...

And it sold out in about two hours.

The logo look like it's made of Apple TVs :)

It does look like Apple TVs.

It also looks like multi-colored and multi-sized iPhone home buttons.

But that might just be me projecting my own desires. ;)

Calling it: 1:1 aspect ratio Macbook Square.

Calling it: Apple will announce its acquisition of Square. (jk)

It looks like a bunch of app icon silhouettes

I think this is the most likely. Apple is steadily pushing the iOS UI elements into the "wider" MacOS platform. This is evident from the last few changes to the Cocoa APIs and the recent requirements for Applications available on the Mac App Store. Desktop applications are increasingly going to be Appified.

Now you can play Angry Birds on the big screen!

You can already do that...

Apple's event invites are geeky Rorschach tests. You see what you want to see.

I see CPUs..maybe the new macbooks will ditch Intel for a home-grown solution...ya right.

I really wish Apple would do product announcements prior to WWDC to segment the press/bloggers/fanboys/etc from the actual developers.

Press can get (or at least request) a press badge that is keynote only. For those who can't get one, is there really $1600 plus expenses worth of value in blogging the event? Especially when all the usual suspects are live-blogging, the news comes out instantly, and the video is posted within a day?

I see a bunch of CPUs. I predict some upgrades on the iMac line.

Also Rounded Rects are everywhere, http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Round_Rects_Are_E...

Both Intel's Ivy Bridge and AMD's Radeon HD 7700/7800/7900M have been released this week. I expect the MacBook Pro and iMac lines to be refreshed.

Opening tickets at 5:30 PST is a huge dick move. I woke up to 3 text messages about WWDC tickets, jumped on my computer and found them all sold out. Now I'm probably going to have to spend twice as much for a ticket.

You're not going to be able to buy a ticket at all. For the first time, tickets aren't transferable.

The logo hints at differently sized apps or elements - I'm thinking of something retina/resolution independence related.

Retina display MacBooks and iMacs, for example.

$1,599? Understandable that they need the ~$7m in ticket sales, given that they just posted ~$11bn quarterly profits. ;)

Based on some completely suspect math, having 1000 engineers available for the length of the conference "costs" apple ~40 million dollars in productivity:

num_engineers * total_session_hours * (revenue_per_emp / 2000)

where num_engineers = 1000, total_session_hours = 40, and revenue_per_emp = 2020000‡

‡ http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=apple%20revenue%20per%2...

Good point. Still, the $7m is a minor dent in the overall cost, so it seems almost insignificant.

I'd be almost willing to bet that because the cost is so insignificant to them, the WWDC ticket price is almost entirely meant to set a bar for the types of developers that Apple wants to attend the conference. Specifically, professional developers who make money from the Apple ecosystem, to which the ticket price is a pretty insignificant expenditure for the hopeful value that they recieve from being there.

I hear they made a rule internally that WWDC is supposed to pay it's own way. I certainly agree that it doesn't need to, but just thought you might find that interesting.

Any guesses about an iPhone 5 being released there?

I think (with iPhone 4S) they're moving the release schedule to the autumn.

WWDC has never been the release date for iPhones.

All iPhones prior to the 4S has been announced at WWDC and then released ~1 month later.

Only 3 out of 5 have been announced at WWDC:

The original iPhone was announced at a special event on January 9, 2007.

iPhone 3G was announced at WWDC 2008.

iPhone 3GS was announced at WWDC 2009.

iPhone 4 was annouced at WWDC 2010.

iPhone 4S was announced at a special event on October 4, 2011.

'[A] special event on January 9, 2007'?

How soon they forget! It wasn't an Apple 'special event', it was the perennial San Francisco MacWorld Expo, once the go-to event for Apple announcements.

Apple's moved on from MacWorld as a launch platform, and I wouldn't be completely surprised if Apple someday owned their own general-audience conferences – believing, as with retail stores, they should control the whole experience.

But MacWorld Expo shouldn't be written out of Apple history.

If anything at all there will be new Macs, coinciding with Mountain Lion and Intel's release of low-power Ivy Bridge CPUs (though Macs might be a bit too unimportant to warrant the big stage and Intel might not deliver on time or Mountain Lion may not be finished). The iPhone was moved to autumn.

It's possible that there are no new hardware products at all in the keynote (though maybe not likely), only a review of what Mountain Lion brings, maybe incldluding some new software (the aging iWork is desperate for an update) and a preview of iOS6. Remember: Apple used to have preview events for the next iOS early in the year. That did not happen this year, so they have to preview iOS6 at some point before they release it, likely together with a new iPhone.

I think it's safe to say that the LACK of perennial rumors and leaked parts means last year's fall release is now a tradition and not just a one-time-thing.

There's apparently a parts supplier already selling the new home buttons: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/04/23/next-generation-iphone-p...

Which is a bit of a conundrum. If the new iPhone were to be released in June, you'd expect there to be more noise on the channel by now. But if it's coming in October, it's far too early for new parts to be in production.

I suppose the most plausible explanation is that it's a button for a knockoff product.

An iPhone has never been released at a WWDC before. So no.

The WWDC (World Wide Developer Conference) is aimed at developers, so it's not the right forum for major hardware releases. I'm pretty sure the mainstream media won't be present.

The iPhone 4 was announced at WWDC '10.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iphone_4

Yes, an iPhone has never been unveiled at a WWDC.

Except for the iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4 at WWDC 2008, 2009, and 2010, respectively.

The next gen of iBooks will be unveiled...

So we will see new MBP in June then.

I think they'll be announced within 2 weeks.

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