Apple on Thursday confirmed via a press release that its annual summer pilgrimage for developers, Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), will be kicking off on Monday, June 2, at San Francisco’s Moscone West.
The five-day conference will focus on “the future of iOS and OS X,”, indicating that Apple will give us a preview of iOS 8 and the next iteration of its desktop operating system for Macs, OS X.
There will be more than a hundred technical sessions and over a thousand Apple engineers will be available to registered developers to help them integrate new technologies and fine tune their apps.
Apple will also hold its traditional Apple Design Awards to showcase the best apps from the past year and of course hold the keynote on the first day to update us on latest business metrics and hopefully announce “exciting new products” CEO Tim Cook has been teasing for months now…
Apple’s marketing honcho Phil Schiller said:
We have the most amazing developer community in the world and have a great week planned for them..
Every year the WWDC audience becomes more diverse, with developers from almost every discipline you can imagine and coming from every corner of the globe. We look forward to sharing with them our latest advances in iOS and OS X so they can create the next generation of great apps.
Apple sold out last year’s WWDC tickets in 120 seconds.
According to Apple, developers can apply for tickets via the WWDC website now through Monday, April 7 at 10:00am PDT. Similar to Google which employed a random selection for its I/O 2014 conference which runs June 25-26, Apple said tickets will be issued to attendees through random selection.
Developers will know their status by Monday, April 7 at 5:00 p.m. PDT. There will also be 200 Student Scholarships available, giving students around the world the chance to earn a free ticket.
This year the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) and its alliance partners will help promote scholarships to female engineers and coders.
The WWDC website has this motivational message for developers:
Over the past six years, a massive cultural shift has occurred It’s changed how we interact with one another. Learn new things. Entertain ourselves. Do our work. And live our daily lives. All because of developers and the apps they create.
For five days, one thousand Apple engineers and five thousand developers will gather together. And life will be different as a result.
Write the code. Change the world.
Some of the highlights of WWDC 2014 include:
- More than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers on a wide range of topics for developing, deploying and integrating the latest iOS and OS X technologies;
- more than 1,000 Apple engineers supporting over 100 hands-on labs and events to provide developers with code-level assistance, insight into optimal development techniques and guidance on how they can make the most of iOS and OS X technologies in their apps;
- the latest innovations, features and capabilities of iOS and OS X, and how to enhance an app’s functionality, performance, quality and design;
- the opportunity to connect with thousands of fellow iOS and OS X developers from around the world—last year more than 60 countries were represented;
- a new series of get togethers for attendees focused on particular topics with special guest speakers and activities;
- engaging and inspirational lunchtime sessions with leading minds and influencers from the worlds of technology, science and entertainment; and
- Apple Design Awards which recognize iPhone, iPad and Mac apps that demonstrate technical excellence, innovation and outstanding design.
Apple said that Monday’s State of the Union session (read: the keynote) and the Apple Design Awards will be live streamed via the WWDC website. Like every year, Apple will post videos from all technical sessions throughout the week on its Developer website, available to all registered iOS and Mac developers.
During the last year’s event, Apple showed off iOS 7, announced iTunes Radio, gave us a sneak peek into the radical new Mac Pro, released developer preview of OS X Mavericks and refreshed the ultra-thin MacBook Air family around the latest chips and all-day battery life.
Kremlinologists among you, what are your predictions for WWDC 2014?