Following the confirmation of the dates of the next Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple has posted a mini-site teasing attractions and hinting at features of the next WWDC, which will be held from June 13-17. This year, in a new wrinkle, some key events -- the Keynote, the State of the Union, and Apple Design Awards, all on Monday the 13th, and the Thursday Night Bash on the 16th will be held at the 7,000-seat Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, while Sessions, Labs, and all other events will be held at the usual venue, Moscone West, all in San Francisco.
With
the mini-site, Apple has also kicked off its
ticket lottery. Entries will be accepted until April 22 at 10AM PDT, and winners will be notified at some point shortly afterwards. Those hoping to attend under the
WWDC Scholarships program for students and STEM organization members can register to receive a free ticket until May 1 at 5PM PDT, and applicants will be notified of their status by Monday, May 9.
Students and members/alumni of a STEM organization must also submit any app they have worked on " that demonstrates creative use of Apple technologies and runs on an Apple platform," the company said. "Your submission may be a school project, a project you've built on your own, or an app that is available on the App Store. You will also need to answer an essay question about your coding process, and provide proof of enrollment from your school or proof of membership from your STEM organization."
The design "motif" of the mini-site uses multi-colored text on in a terminal environment, emphasizing the conference's focus on programming. A number of "Hello" statements are offered (such as "Hello rain in five minutes") that suggest or remind one of popular apps such as Uber, Health, Tinder, Vine, and others. The main developer page serves as a gateway to the mini-site, noting there will be 100 sessions, 1,000 engineers, the chance to "learnAbout (OSX, iOS, watchOS, tvOS)," and with a tagline of "let WWDC16=gameChanging."
The move of the press-heavy events and the Thursday Night party may possibly offer Apple the opportunity to allow more developers into the conference while maintaining the attendance caps at the usual venue that previously resulted in seconds-long sellouts. By isolating press to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, there should be room for more attendees at the main sessions, since the entire hall can be populated with conference attendees and Apple engineers rather than photographers and reporters taking a significant portion of the overall hall limit. The Bill Graham facility can hold 7,000 individuals, while the Moscone center attendance has been traditionally capped at 5,200.
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