Apple Worldwide Developers Conference
From Cocoapedia
The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, commonly abbreviated WWDC, is a conference held annually in California by Apple Inc. The conference is primarily used by Apple to showcase its new software and technologies for developers, as well as offering hands-on labs and feedback sessions.
The number of attendees usually varies between 2,000 to 4,200 developers; however, during WWDC 2007, Steve Jobs noted that there were over 5,000 attendees. WWDC 2008-2011 were capped and sold out at 5,000 attendees (5,200 including special attendees). The sell-out time has been accelerating every year, with 2011 selling out in under 12 hours.
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The conference begins with a keynote address by Apple executives and senior engineers, and is often used to debut new products and services. The keynote video is sometimes streamed live, and is made available to the public via the Apple Keynotes podcast later that day. Aside from the keynote, all other conference content is covered by attendees' NDA agreement with Apple.
The remainder of the conference consists of:
- Technical sessions -- Most sessions cover Mac and iOS development or IT management of Apple devices, and are presented by Apple engineers
- Labs -- Apple engineers are available for one-on-one code-level help or general discussion
- Compatibility Labs -- Offer a variety of hardware to test code against
- User Interface Consulting -- Apple UI experts are available by appointment to review and critique an app's user experience and provide constructive feedback
- Apple Design Awards -- An evening event that recognizes accomplishments in UI design
- Stump The Experts -- A mostly-for-laughs evening event that challenges audience members to come up with technical questions that can stump a collection Apple cognoscenti from every era of the company's existence
- The Bash -- A catered party at Yerba Buena Gardens with live music from popular bands. Acts that have played WWDC include Barenaked Ladies (2008), Cake (2009), and OK Go (2010).
