Apple’s made it official. WWDC will be held on June 5-9, with a huge change from previous years: it will be held at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center as opposed to Moscone West in San Fransisco.
Typically, at WWDC Apple previews the next version of its operating systems such as iOS and macOS. This year, we expect Apple to announce major revisions to iOS 11, macOS 10.13, as well as updates to tvOS, and watchOS. Registration for tickets begin on March 27.
Phil Schiller told The Loop that the venue holds 5,000 developers and around 1,000 Apple engineers, making it similar in size to Moscone West. A reason for the move was not given, but Schiller says that San Jose is a ‘great environment’ for attendees.
Apple’s early announcement gives developers more time to book flights and figure out other travel plans. For Apple engineers, the drive is much closer to Cupertino and Apple’s Campus 2.
This will allow more Apple engineers to attend the event then ever before, according to Schiller’s chat with John Gruber, as the engineers won’t have to devote an entire day out of their schedule to visit the conference.
If Apple follows its usual schedule, the keynote will be held on Monday, June 5 where it will announce the next major versions of its platforms, iOS 11 and macOS 10.13. Schiller says the event will focus on ‘all platforms’ which would include tvOS and watchOS.
While WWDC is mainly focused on software, it wouldn’t be too crazy to see some hardware updates. While it’s highly unlikely that we’ll see a bezel-free iPhone 8 announced, Mac updates or iPad updates wouldn’t be too outlandish.
The last time Apple held WWDC in San Jose was back in 2002, which was before the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Apple TV was announced. The San Jose mayor is naturally thrilled that Apple chose it as their venue.
“We’re ecstatic that Apple has chosen to host its WWDC 2017 in San Jose, the heart of Silicon Valley and site of the very first WWDC,” said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. “We look forward to working with Apple to create a special experience for the thousands of attendees who will visit San Jose for this marquee event. And on behalf of our entire city, I’d like to extend a warm invitation to Apple developers, partners and enthusiasts from around the world to join us in Downtown San Jose as Apple unveils its latest innovations.”
As usual, Apple will provide a live stream to the keynote and all of the developer sessions.
