Following an “unprecedented interest” in WWDC that saw tickets selling out in less than two minutes, Apple has officially announced on its “News and Announcements” developer portal that “they’ll be hitting the road” with Tech Talks this Fall:
Enthusiasm for WWDC 2013 has been incredible, with tickets selling out in record time. For those who can’t join us in San Francisco, you can still take advantage of great WWDC content, as we’ll be posting videos of all our sessions during the conference. We’ll also be hitting the road this fall with Tech Talks in a city near you. Hope to see you there.
In commenting on Daniel Jalkut’s piece on WWDC yesterday, I suggested that a new round of Tech Talks would be a nice solution for those who couldn’t get a ticket to WWDC this year. It’s good to see Apple addressing concerns of limited availability with such a quick announcement.
Tech Talks are, as the name suggests, talks given by Apple employees to developers interested in knowing more about iOS and OS X technologies, attending labs, and getting feedback on APIs and interface guidelines by the people who make iOS, OS X, iCloud, and all the services that power Apple’s devices and computers.
Tech Talks are, effectively, “mini WWDCs”. The last time Apple “hit the road” was in late 2011 with the Tech Talk World Tour after the release of iOS 5. The tour run through 9 cities worldwide:
- Berlin
- London
- Rome
- Beijing
- Seoul
- Sao Paolo
- New York City
- Seattle
- Austin
As Apple described it back then:
We’re taking iOS 5 on a world tour and we want you to come along for the ride. Learn from Apple experts as you take your apps to the next level with the exciting new technologies in iOS. Space is limited, so register today.
It’s unclear right now whether Apple will once again a worldwide tour, but it seems plausible. In 2011, Apple started the Tech Talk World Tour on November 2, announcing tickets on October 20.
