Apple's WWDC 2019 Ticket Lottery Ends, Winners Begin Receiving Confirmation Emails

[MacRumors]

The ticket lottery for Apple's 2019 Worldwide Developers Conference ended yesterday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, and following the end of registration, Apple has started sending out confirmation emails to winners.

Developers who scored a ticket to WWDC can expect to see their credit cards charged for the $1,599 over the course of the next few days.

Apple uses a lottery system to provide developers with WWDC tickets and has done so for the last several years due to overwhelming demand. There are approximately 5,000 spots open for developers, but Apple gets many more applications than that.

Developers who receive a WWDC ticket will be able to attend iOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS app development sessions and more than 1,000 Apple engineers will be on hand and in labs to provide assistance.

The 2019 event will start on Monday, June 3 and will last through Friday, June 7 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. Apple will host a keynote event on Monday to introduce new iOS, tvOS, macOS, and watchOS software. There are sometimes a few hardware surprises, though we haven't heard much detail on what could be included. It's possible we'll see our first glimpse at the new modular Mac Pro Apple has been working on since 2017.

Following the keynote event, Apple will make new software updates available to developers and the rest of the week will be spent in technical sessions and hands-on labs.

Developers not selected to purchase a WWDC ticket will be able to watch the keynote session and follow along with technical sessions through the Apple Developer Website and the WWDC app for iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV.

Article Link: Apple's WWDC 2019 Ticket Lottery Ends, Winners Begin Receiving Confirmation Emails

 

[BaccaBossMC]

I still find it mind boggling that Apple charges so much for a dev to go to WWDC where they are taught how to make better apps, of which Apple takes half the revenue.

 

[MoreRumors?]

Congrats to the ticket winners.

 

[Jimmy James]

$1,599? A lottery that feels like a tax.

 

[bladerunner2000]

Of course Apple charges $1,600 for a conference ticket.... and of course Apple consumers willingly pay that kind of money.

Insane.

 

[thefredelement]

I still find it mind boggling that Apple charges so much for a dev to go to WWDC where they are taught how to make better apps, of which Apple takes half the revenue.

It's not a bad deal if your job is paying the bill...

 

[UnalignedByte]

Every time there is WWDC the comments are the same - Apple is charging so much for the tickets and the insane fanboys are willing to pay for it!

Some people don't understand that most conferences are not free, and a lot of them cost $1000 or more to attend. For Apple to delegate so many if its best employees for a whole week to do this has to cost way more than what they make back in the ticket prices. I would assume that they charge for it simply so that people who actually see value in the whole week of presentations and labs apply, instead of most who would just go for they keynote.

I personally been applying for it for the past number of years and still haven't had any luck. It's been on my wish list for a long time, so maybe I'll get lucky this time, but to be honest, I haven't got much hope

 

[Bin Cook]

I still find it mind boggling that Apple charges so much for a dev to go to WWDC where they are taught how to make better apps, of which Apple takes half the revenue.

As much as Tim Cook is greedy scum personified, £1600 is a bargain for the networking alone. Unfortunately it also all but puts free app developers out of the loop, as they are not likely to qualify for the scholarship*.

*Apple already signalling they no longer want free devs in their ecosystem so this won’t ever change.

 

[jonblatho]

Of course Apple charges $1,600 for a conference ticket.... and of course Apple consumers willingly pay that kind of money.

Insane.

No, that's not what's insane; your take is. Save for certainly a few rabid Apple fans who only want to watch the keynote (which can be viewed online for free) in person, developers—not "Apple consumers"—comprise the overwhelming majority of people entering the lottery.

 

[recoil80]

Of course Apple charges $1,600 for a conference ticket.... and of course Apple consumers willingly pay that kind of money.

Insane.

$1600 isn't that much for a conference of 5 days where you get to meet engineers in the labs.
I just checked the price of iOSCon, a 2 day conference in London, it costs more than $800 for 2 days. Great people there, but quite pricey.
The problem is airplane tickets and hotels, you end up paying way more than the conference ticket unless you live nearby San Jose.

 

[Winni]

Of course Apple charges $1,600 for a conference ticket.... and of course Apple consumers willingly pay that kind of money.

Insane.

What's even more insane: The paying customers are even PROUD of being milked like that.
"...Apple has the most affluent customer base..." is a statement often made and heard in the Apple "community".

 

[realtuner]

Wow, several ignorant comments already. Easy to see which members are NOT developers.

There are over 1,000 Apple engineers in attendance who you can speak to one-on-one about your App and discuss your code with them. This is in addition to all the sessions covering frameworks/APIs.

To a developer that kind of access is easily worth the $1,599 price tag.

 

[Winni]

No, that's not what's insane; your take is. Save for certainly a few rabid Apple fans who only want to watch the keynote (which can be viewed online for free) in person, developers—not "Apple consumers"—comprise the overwhelming majority of people entering the lottery.

Yeah, that's awesome. You can actually go on a real training course for that kind of money -- you know, with a trainer and a small class, and absolutely no "lottery" involved.

1600 bucks is a lot of money for going on a pilgrimage to meet Apple staff. Even the Vatican in Rome doesn't charge that entrance fee.

 

[realtuner]

Yeah, that's awesome. You can actually go on a real training course for that kind of money -- you know, with a trainer and a small class, and absolutely no "lottery" involved.

1600 bucks is a lot of money for going on a pilgrimage to meet Apple staff. Even the Vatican in Rome doesn't charge that entrance fee.

Name one.

 

[CWallace]

Yeah, that's awesome. You can actually go on a real training course for that kind of money -- you know, with a trainer and a small class, and absolutely no "lottery" involved.

WWDC weekend is a real training course with a trainer (who actually played a direct hand in the creation of the topic being taught so their knowledge of the subject is as relevant as it gets) and small classes (the entire audience does not attend each session).

1600 bucks is a lot of money for going on a pilgrimage to meet Apple staff.

I highly doubt anyone is spending that amount to just shake hands with some Apple folks. I mean it's not like Tim and Craig and Phil are walking the halls and attending the sessions doing "meet and greets".

You're far more likely to meet "Apple staff" at a restaurant or bar at the end of the day.

 

[joeallen]

What's even more insane: The paying customers are even PROUD of being milked like that.
"...Apple has the most affluent customer base..." is a statement often made and heard in the Apple "community".

Have you ever been to a multi-day industry conference? The WWDC ticket price is very typical and even cheap in comparison to some.

Two quick examples:

MIPIM: 2,300 USD
Salesforce Dreamforce: 1899 USD

There are many more but I really can't be bothered to look up their exact prices.

Developers aren't really customers in this case, it's a very good investment, that's why it has to be a lottery because demand is so huge.

 

[jonblatho]

Yeah, that's awesome. You can actually go on a real training course for that kind of money -- you know, with a trainer and a small class, and absolutely no "lottery" involved.

1600 bucks is a lot of money for going on a pilgrimage to meet Apple staff. Even the Vatican in Rome doesn't charge that entrance fee.

What? The people going to WWDC by and large don't need "a training course." Most have already published their own apps or worked on published apps, some of which are used by hundreds of millions of users. They're paying to get insight from Apple engineers—not just "meet Apple staff"—on how to best utilize whatever they've just announced and improve their existing work, even get help on a bug they've run into and been unable to figure out. Good luck getting that from a "trainer."

If there were no point in going, they wouldn't have a ticket lottery and it wouldn't have rapidly sold out year after year before they instituted the lottery. People wouldn't go (or their companies wouldn't pay for them to go), and they certainly wouldn't come back, because why would they? Every single presentation is available for viewing online for free. Some presentations are even streamed live. But the presentations are only one component of WWDC. That's not what people are paying to see.

 

[DaveOP]

Yeah, that's awesome. You can actually go on a real training course for that kind of money -- you know, with a trainer and a small class, and absolutely no "lottery" involved.

1600 bucks is a lot of money for going on a pilgrimage to meet Apple staff. Even the Vatican in Rome doesn't charge that entrance fee.

Guessing you've not been to WWDC? Many of the sessions are not with super large groups, and getting code-review sessions with Apple engineers 1:1 is worth the entrance fee. This conference is for developers, not to watch Tim speak at the keynote.

 

[omihek]

I still find it mind boggling that Apple charges so much for a dev to go to WWDC where they are taught how to make better apps, of which Apple takes half the revenue.

In what world is 30% half?

 

[BornAgainMac]

Yeah, that's awesome. You can actually go on a real training course for that kind of money -- you know, with a trainer and a small class, and absolutely no "lottery" involved.

1600 bucks is a lot of money for going on a pilgrimage to meet Apple staff. Even the Vatican in Rome doesn't charge that entrance fee.

Name one.

The conference is worth it if you are a developer. If you just want to a take a class and just starting out, I recommend Pluralsight.com, lynda.com or udemy.com. There are Apple TV apps to watch this content on your living room TV.

 

[guzhogi]

Have you ever been to a multi-day industry conference?

A lot of the people who complain about the cost have probably not. While I've never been to WWDC, I've watched a bunch of the videos of the sessions. So I have a gist of how much you get at one of these, and I know it's not just the keynote.

 

[DesertNomad]

I miss the days of MPW coming with documentation in 3-ring binders and being able to just buy a ticket for WWDC without a lottery.

 

[ihackalot]

Every time there is WWDC the comments are the same - Apple is charging so much for the tickets and the insane fanboys are willing to pay for it!

Some people don't understand that most conferences are not free, and a lot of them cost $1000 or more to attend. For Apple to delegate so many if its best employees for a whole week to do this has to cost way more than what they make back in the ticket prices. I would assume that they charge for it simply so that people who actually see value in the whole week of presentations and labs apply, instead of most who would just go for they keynote.

I personally been applying for it for the past number of years and still haven't had any luck. It's been on my wish list for a long time, so maybe I'll get lucky this time, but to be honest, I haven't got much hope

Come on, you also admit it's in your wish list. You are just happy to go, so it's understandable for more rational people to externalize this kind of comments. Looks like a whim to them. And I wouldn't be surprised if some or many of the people willing to pay that much were among those complaining to pay a couple of bucks for some software they use everyday instead. Additionally, to Apple it's business, they don't do it for developers but for themselves, because they need developers. And before that they need the community and they clearly want to feed those fanboys like you that help so much making the brand what it is.

 

[mi7chy]

I thought they would change the Día de Muertos artwork by now with something more lively.

 

[BaccaBossMC]

In what world is 30% half?

Has Apple adjusted to only taking 30%? Last I heard it was 49%, and besides, I'm sure the government takes their chunk of what is left.