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WWDC 2011 Sells Out in Under 12 Hours

KnightWRX said:
Both of you are wrong.

Apple is a vertical systems integrator and vendor. They sell an vertically integrated solution that includes both software and hardware. They've been like this since the 70s, back when it was in-style.

These days, these types of vendors are rare. IBM still is with some POWER machines running AIX, HP has their Itanium/HP-UX systems and of course Oracle and the SPARC/Solaris boxes, but of course, these are mostly big-Iron Unix solutions, which is about the only place you'll find vertical solutions anymore.

Apple probably is the last of the consumer vendors doing vertical integration.
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I could not agree more. They have been very good at slowly moving more and more of their needs in-house. Their ability to produce their own chips was a brilliant move. I would bet real money you will continue to see them move farther into this area. Clouds, chips, and software give them quite a powerhouse of ability.
 
cvaldes said:
Go read their SEC filings.

They make money selling hardware.

An operating system is a big complicated program that lets other big complicated programs co-exist peacefully on the same system. However, Apple does not generate much revenue from software sales. If they did, it would be a separate line item in their financials and they would probably need to disclose more information about software sales, since such a large part of the increase in shareholder value would be dependent on it.

Same deal with iTunes Store sales, App Store revenue, MobileMe subscriptions, etc. Not a major part of their bottom line. Apple uses software and content to drive sales of their high-margin hardware.
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While what you say is definitely true, context matters! WWDC is not for hardware developers but is predominantly for software developers. If it is not a software company, why would so many software developers throng to their conference? Calling it a software company in this context does not take anything away from it being a hardware company, the way you describe it.
 
cvaldes said:
It's neither a math game nor marketing ploy.

Apple is not artificially limiting the number of attendees. It's a facilities issue. They are at maximum capacity for this venue. It's not like they can simply print out 5000 more badges. The fire marshal would shut the place down.

That's why local television coverage of professional sports have their blackouts lifted after a sellout. Not everyone who wants to watch can fit in the stadium/arena.
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Thank you for being cool, calm, and logical in your reply. I just had to give you a gold clap for replying the way you did instead of raging like a fanboy.
 
Maximillian said:
Sadly, Vegas will cost you more for a week than SF (if you want to do it "right").
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It all depends what you want to do in Vegas. If you're wanting to go to restaurants, shows, and/or spa then $1500 is plenty for a few nights of that and you'll have some left over for quarter VP/slots. If you're wanting to go to the club and buy 4 bottles every night...then $1500 isn't going to get you very far.
 
Sold out in 8 hours??? What on earth is this? A Hannah Montana concert? Dang it, I was gonna go too :cool:
 
mctrees02 said:
It all depends what you want to do in Vegas. If you're wanting to go to restaurants, shows, and/or spa then $1500 is plenty for a few nights of that and you'll have some left over for quarter VP/slots. If you're wanting to go to the club and buy 4 bottles every night...then $1500 isn't going to get you very far.
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Unless you're rainman ;)
 
millertime021 said:
I'm going to be pissed if there's no new iPhone.

However, I don't think Apple cares about me.
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Well, you have over two months to work yourself up into a full-scale snit.

iOS 5 will be soooo good it will make the iPhone 4 feel like an iPhone 5.
 
Why would anyone think there would be an iPhone 5 announcement there?

They clearly say iOS and Mac OS. Which it should, Lion's release is right around the corner.
 
cvaldes said:
It's neither a math game nor marketing ploy.

Apple is not artificially limiting the number of attendees. It's a facilities issue. They are at maximum capacity for this venue. It's not like they can simply print out 5000 more badges. The fire marshal would shut the place down.

That's why local television coverage of professional sports have their blackouts lifted after a sellout. Not everyone who wants to watch can fit in the stadium/arena.
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But there are larger venues available, so it is certainly possible to limit the number of attendees by choosing a venue that is too small.
 
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rstansby said:
cvaldes said:
It's neither a math game nor marketing ploy.

Apple is not artificially limiting the number of attendees. It's a facilities issue. They are at maximum capacity for this venue. It's not like they can simply print out 5000 more badges. The fire marshal would shut the place down.

That's why local television coverage of professional sports have their blackouts lifted after a sellout. Not everyone who wants to watch can fit in the stadium/arena.
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But there are larger venues available, so it is certainly possible to limit the number of attendees by choosing a venue that is too small.
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It's a conference, not a rolling stones concert. You can't just infinitely scale upwards and provide a good experience. There are practical limits to the size of an audience you can have for useful sessions.
 
Secruoser said:
What's with the focus on 'sold out'? Simply limit your passes well below the projected numbers of participants, and there you go, sold out. It's just a math game and a marketing ploy.
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ericinboston said:
But how many tickets were actually for sale? 3000? 5000? 10,000? Remember that the conference center needs to house all the Apple employees, the contractors, and of course all the booths/rooms.

I would imagine that Apple purposely plans events (timing as well as location) that WILL sell out. Apple doesn't want to hold an event where only 50% of the conference hall is filled.

Selling out in 12 hours may not be all that it's cracked up to be. But in theory if 100% of the attendees are truly developers, I could see a fast sellout.
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CFreymarc said:
You and a few other thousand engineers. What hasn't been said is how many tickets were sold. I would be curious to see if Apple limited the amount of tickets the first round to get hype and "additional tickets" will go on sale later this week.
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Really? Wow, what's next?

Cupertino:

Apple has announced a reduction in the number of restrooms available in their office buildings. This is seen as a media ploy to drive up demand. :rolleyes:

Tin foil hats, necessity or fashion accessory? New at eleven.

rstansby said:
But there are larger venues available, so it is certainly possible to limit the number of attendees by choosing a venue that is too small.
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But are they ready to make the move to Vegas? Would love to see WWDC move here. :)
 
rstansby said:
But there are larger venues available, so it is certainly possible to limit the number of attendees by choosing a venue that is too small.
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There are far greater costs/concessions in utilizing those larger venues.

Moscone Center is the best and largest facility in the SF Bay Area for Apple's needs. It's not like Apple is going to rent out the Oakland Coliseum and spread out a thousand chairs and tables on the football field.

Going out of town increases the costs enormously: moving equipment and people. Airline flights, per diem meals, hotel rooms, taxis, rental cars, etc. Forgot a couple of boxes of marketing collateral? Moscone Center: have someone drive it up 280. Elsewhere: buy full-fare airline ticket for employee.

What does it cost Apple to send an engineer to Moscone Center? Employee gets to expense lunch, write off transportation (heck, half of these engineers probably live in SF - they can just take BART or Muni to the event). Let's say $30 a day.

What does it cost to send an engineer to the L.A. Convention Center or Vegas? Long-term parking at airport, airline flight, $200 hotel, arbitrary $75 per diem meals, rental car/taxi, etc. Could easily end up at $400 per day per person.
 
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I think people who say that no new iphone 5 is going to be announced are people who just got a verizon iphone and are on contract and so they hope that no new iphone comes out.
 
cpucrash0 said:
I think people who say that no new iphone 5 is going to be announced are people who just got a verizon iphone and are on contract and so they hope that no new iphone comes out.
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I just got a Verizon iPhone, and still looking forward to iPhone 5. I Still have a upgrade available to waste.


It took weeks for WWDC 2009, days for WWDC 2010, but only 10 hours of WWDC 2011 to sell out. Needless to say that’s the fastest sell out time ever. That’s rock concert fast.
 
Why is everyone so worked up?!?

Why is everyone so worked up over a new iPhone? The current phone still beats most smart-phones on the market today. Blah, Blah 4G Blah, Blah faster Blah Blah. Most don't even know what "4G" even is other then it is a larger number in front of the letter "G" and thats gotta make it FFAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!

This is a developers conference and should not a hardware release party.
 
cvaldes said:
There are far greater costs/concessions in utilizing those larger venues.

Moscone Center is the best and largest facility in the SF Bay Area for Apple's needs. It's not like Apple is going to rent out the Oakland Coliseum and spread out a thousand chairs and tables on the football field.

Going out of town increases the costs enormously: moving equipment and people. Airline flights, per diem meals, hotel rooms, taxis, rental cars, etc. Forgot a couple of boxes of marketing collateral? Moscone Center: have someone drive it up 280. Elsewhere: buy full-fare airline ticket for employee.

What does it cost Apple to send an engineer to Moscone Center? Employee gets to expense lunch, write off transportation (heck, half of these engineers probably live in SF - they can just take BART or Muni to the event). Let's say $30 a day.

What does it cost to send an engineer to the L.A. Convention Center or Vegas? Long-term parking at airport, airline flight, $200 hotel, arbitrary $75 per diem meals, rental car/taxi, etc. Could easily end up at $400 per day per person.
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Ok, but they are only utilizing Moscone West. Why not rent West and North, South or all three. That would allow them to expand without moving.
 
Next Year?!?

Next Year is going to suck for buying tickets.

If we went from 8 days to 12 hours what will next year be like?
 
belsokar said:
I figured it would sell out quick...I tried to get approval from my boss this morning, and even said it would sell out in a day or two to rush the decision...unfortunately, I should have said hour or two!
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shartypants said:
Wow, that was fast. At this rate, next year should sell out within an hour. I think if you wanted to go, you needed to get your bosses approval before it was announced.
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The second quote is my response to the first.


rstansby said:
But there are larger venues available, so it is certainly possible to limit the number of attendees by choosing a venue that is too small.
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lostngone said:
Ok, but they are only utilizing Moscone West. Why not rent West and North, South or all three. That would allow them to expand without moving.
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But then Apple would lose the hype value of being able to say "sold out in N hours".

Apple is a marketing company above all else.


lostngone said:
Next Year is going to suck for buying tickets.

If we went from 8 days to 12 hours what will next year be like?
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Next year the WWDC will be in a Holiday Inn in Millbrae (SF airport), because all of the city will be booked for the ADC (Android Developers' Conference). ;)
 
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