Each year Apple holds its World Wide Developers Conference. This conference used to be held in San Jose but had to be moved to San Francisco when it got too big. Attendance tops out about 5,000 developers who descend each summer to Moscone West. The conference date floats between May and June. Apple announces the date of the conference ten weeks before. Last year the conference was announced on March 26th and the date was June 8th. Rumors abound from people trying to guess the date. So here we are a year later and there is still no announcement from Cupertino.
June 7-June 11
That means that the conference will probably not be starting on June 7th, the corresponding week of last year. I would have expected an announcement today if that were going to be the date. Another strike against the June 7th theory is the fact that the Yerba Buena Garden is booked up a public event that would conflict with the annual bash. The final strike against this date option is the fact that there are still rooms available at the Marriott across the street. Apple usually books their own employees into that hotel prior to announcing the conference. There’s still a chance that we may hear something tomorrow and I’ll be proven wrong.
June 28-July 2
Back in December appleisms.com posted an article with a screen shot showing a “Corporate Event” on the Moscone Center’s web site. That calendar has been since updated and the Corporate Event has been moved to June 23rd and 24th. That’s not long enough for WWDC but there’s nothing on the public schedule for the next week.
June 21-June 25
The week of June 21st has also appeared on some rumor sites. It is hard to discount this date. It would also include the anniversary of the iPhone and an opportune time to announce iPhone OS 4.0 and new iPhone hardware. Its hard to ignore this week.
It is unlikely that Apple will delay further into July or even August but it has happened. There’s nothing at this point to suggest that. For now we just wait.
Revised Thinking
Since originally writing this time has passed. It is looking more and more like June is out. Apple may push the date back into August or even September. If you assume a historical 90 day advance notice then the chart looks like this:
| Year | Advance | Announcement | WWDC | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 40 | Apr 28, 2010 | Jun 7, 2010 | Moscone West West |
| 2009 | 74 | Mar 26, 2009 | Jun 8, 2009 | Moscone West |
| 2008 | 88 | Mar 13, 2008 | Jun 9, 2008 | Moscone West |
| 2007 | 126 | Feb 5, 2007 | Jun 11, 2007 | Moscone West |
| 2006 | 153 | Mar 7, 2006 | Aug 7, 2006 | Moscone West |
| 2005 | 111 | Feb 15, 2005 | Jun 6, 2005 | Moscone West |
| 2004 | 123 | Feb 26, 2004 | Jun 28, 2004 | Moscone West |
| 2003 | 98 | Feb 10, 2003 | May 19, 2003 | Moscone West |
| 2002 | 31 | Apr 15, 2002 | May 16, 2002 | San Jose Convention Center |
| 2001 | 34 | Apr 17, 2001 | May 21, 2001 | San Jose Convention Center |
| 2000 | 55 | Mar 21, 2000 | May 15, 2000 | San Jose Convention Center |
2000-2002 announcement date are from Apple PR
This is an outrage!
People have jobs, projects, families. Currently, all I can do is not plan anything for June … and even July.
What is so hard about announcing this date earlier?
Alex
Via Twitter from Germany
The timing has always been frustrating yet somehow they keep having sell-out conferences year after year. I’m sure this year will be the biggest yet.
I still think that professional developers should start to put more pressure on Apple.
It can’t be impossible to announce the date sooner.
I think we can safely rule out June 7th. Even Apple would give us more than 45 days to prepare for such an event. The rest of June is starting to look doubtful. The corporate event is gone off the Moscone calendar. Now there’s a new event in September 27-28 in Moscone West labeled “DevCon”. Is that WWDC? It might be the Blackberry Developer’s Conference (http://www.blackberrydeveloperconference.com) scheduled at the Marriott 9/27-30. That would be an unfortunate collision of schedules because Marriott hotel rooms are already $279 for that week.
Can you believe only 40 days notice?
The web site electronista.com says that Apple has booked the Yerba Buena Gardens for June 22nd. They claim to be getting their info from modmyi.com. But when you go look at the source article, it makes no mention of WWDC. While that makes sense for the release or unveiling of the iPhone 4.0 it does not make sense for WWDC. Typically WWDC starts on a Monday with the keynote followed by a full four days of developer sessions. I cannot see Apple shrinking the conference by a day. For the last couple of years Apple has used Yerba Buena for its Bash party, usually Wednesday or Thursday night.
http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/04/14/apple.may.have.booked.wwdc.keynote.date/
http://modmyi.com/forums/iphone-news/706613-4th-gen-iphone-may-debut-june-22nd.html
While I believe the possibility of an iPhone 4 debut one June 22, presumably shipping 60 days later, I still think that this will be isolated from the WWDC presentations. WWDC hopefully will focus on Mac OS X 10.7. They may be delaying until September to get the new OS ready. The conference has gone through changes from year to year. The basic structure has remained 5 days.
There’s no missing the point that Apple wants to enter the electronic concert and event ticket business via a new application and system simply called “Concert Ticket +.” The system that is laid out in this extraordinarily detailed patent, points to a new iTunes based web service for tickets that will naturally enhance the iTunes music empire. Apple definitely envisions a way to revolutionize the entire current concert ticket process so as to eliminate paper while enhancing the concert or event experience. Today’s patent reviews the basics of this new system as well as review the benefits of such a system which could include the concert goer receiving such things as a live recording of the concert they just attended or access to exclusive artist interviews or refreshments. Surprisingly, the patent goes far beyond concerts as well – so as to cover sporting events, amusement park admissions and rides (think Disney), a wedding invitation system and a lot more. In fact, one of the events that the report covers includes Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference 2010.
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2010/04/apple-introduces-us-to-a-new-itunes-concert-ticket-system.html
I wasn’t really worried
OK, I am betting against a WWDC in June. My guess: iPhone4 on 6/22. WWDC in August w/ 10.7 preview. #fb
The problem with that idea is that Moscone is booked in August. I’m betting on 9/27 for WWDC 2010
Radar is Apple’s internal Bug Tracking system. When a bug is killed it gets a Raid number.
http://openradar.appspot.com/radar?id=278401
Forecast: Apple will announce WWDC after it’s over. And it’ll still sell out.
WWDC 2009 was not announced on Mar 13, 2009, but on Mar 26, 2009 (which brings the advance down to 74 days for 2009).
Thanks for catching that. I had 3/26 in my notes but updated the wrong year (2008 was 3/13).
WWDC 10 has been announced for June 7th. Now the scramble to get registered. Glad I already made hotel reservations.