I've never attended an Apple event live, nor have most Apple fans, so this makes zero difference to the vast majority of people.
Keep the events coming! Keep the new product announcements coming!
Just stream them all! Who needs an audience! Screw the audience! The stars of the events are the new products being shown!
The show must go on, virus or no virus!
Well, the keynote is the address most people watch online. What goes on after that is one-on-one sessions between Apple engineers and developers. That's where the meat of WWDC takes place. The product announcements are from the marketing team.
I wouldn’t call it “the meat” since it accounts for a such a small aspect of the event. For those in attendance it’s important and valuable, but very few developers even go to this annual event. It’s the sessions themselves that are “the meat” of this event. It’s the main dish, it’s primary source of sustainable of the upcoming OS changes. This is what all the paid developers look forward to that are not in attendance. This is why Apple can easily make this shift without it being a big deal to them. In fact, it probably reduces their logistics efforts and costs considerably to no have in-person sessions this year.
I disagree. The sessions are made available to watch after the event. So if all you’re after are the sessions you don’t need to attend WWDC. Meeting one-on-one with engineers is the real “meat”. They have over 1,000 engineers in attendance vs around 75 different sessions. Clearly Apple expects developers to spend time talking to their engineers, otherwise why would they have so many attend?
How is "the real meat" of all the changes coming to their OSes for the year only for a select few that happen to win a lottery? Does that mean that the countless devs who can't attend are not going to benefit from these sessions because they have to watch it live streamed or recorded after the fact? Do you think that all those devs won't be able to adequately use the tools demoed in the session because they weren't there in person?
Probably an excuse to downplay the keynote which millions of people enjoy.
Additionally, Apple also says that it will provide $1 million to local San Jose organizations to offset revenue loss from the shift to the online-only event.
I've never attended an Apple event live, nor have most Apple fans, so this makes zero difference to the vast majority of people.
Keep the events coming! Keep the new product announcements coming!
Just stream them all! Who needs an audience! Screw the audience! The stars of the events are the new products being shown!
If you had attended an Apple event live, you wouldn't be saying "Who needs an audience! Screw the audience". There is a vibe to a live Apple audience that cannot be described with words and absolutely cannot be experienced remotely. And when Steve was still with us, he absolutely was the star of the event. I was fortunate to see him live five times, and will always treasure those memories.
I think Apple will have to find some way to still sell "tickets" to the usual attendees, and restrict Apple engineers to only spend time with those people who paid for access (through some online method). So you get the same benefit as before when paying - access to Apple engineers.
Apple engineers can be accessed year-round if your company signs up for the "Apple Developer Enterprise Program". I've personally corresponded with the lead engineer of several Apple products through this program. Plus it doesn't have to be real-time; you can take your time to compose complex questions/requests, with documentation and justification for the ask. They may take 24-48 hours to respond, but the responses are detailed and personalized, plus you can ask followups. It's great.
I think Apple will have to find some way to still sell "tickets" to the usual attendees, and restrict Apple engineers to only spend time with those people who paid for access (through some online method). So you get the same benefit as before when paying - access to Apple engineers.
Comments
Probably an excuse to downplay the keynote which millions of people enjoy.
What caught my eye was this:
Additionally, Apple also says that it will provide $1 million to local San Jose organizations to offset revenue loss from the shift to the online-only event.
That will really generate some goodwill!
If you had attended an Apple event live, you wouldn't be saying "Who needs an audience! Screw the audience". There is a vibe to a live Apple audience that cannot be described with words and absolutely cannot be experienced remotely. And when Steve was still with us, he absolutely was the star of the event. I was fortunate to see him live five times, and will always treasure those memories.
Apple engineers can be accessed year-round if your company signs up for the "Apple Developer Enterprise Program". I've personally corresponded with the lead engineer of several Apple products through this program. Plus it doesn't have to be real-time; you can take your time to compose complex questions/requests, with documentation and justification for the ask. They may take 24-48 hours to respond, but the responses are detailed and personalized, plus you can ask followups. It's great.
More likely.
Locked group FaceTime perhaps.