Hey guys, it’s Greg with Apple Explained, and today we’re going to explore the history
of Apples Worldwide Developers Conference.
This topic was the second place winner of last weeks voting poll and if you didn’t
get to vote, make sure you’re subscribed, that way the voting polls will show up right
in your activity feed and you can let me know which video you’d like to see next.
So Apples Worldwide Developers Conference, or WWDC for short, is an annual event organized
by Apple that gets a ton of attention from all over the world.
It’s one of the most anticipated technology events every year since its when Apple makes
some of their biggest software and hardware announcements.
We’ll look at an overview of the conference as a whole and then get into some of the more
detailed history of the event since it first started.
And when did it start exactly?
Well the first WWDC was held back in 1987.
The conference was and continues to be a massive showcase for Apple that gives journalists,
developers, tech insiders, students, and the general public a chance to get a first look
at new products and software to be released by the company.
The five-day event begins on Monday morning with a keynote address followed by different
sessions like workshop presentations, lab consultations, social events, and meetups
until Friday when everything comes to an end.
Sessions cover topics like programming, hardware changes, app design, and more, and are presented
by Apple engineers themselves.
Most of these sessions are filmed and live-streamed and made available for viewers on-demand after
the conference.
In addition to these sessions, conference-goers can meet with Apple developers one-on-one
to workshop app ideas and prototypes or get advice on a variety of app-related topics.
It’s not all technical talk at the WWDC, though.
On top of the lab and information sessions, there are usually quite a few social events
as well.
Every year there’s a “Beer Bash” (now just called the “Bash”) with live music
for attendees.
During the day, groups hold meetups to discuss issues like AI, tech accessibility, and women
in sciences.
Some non-Apple employees who are experts in tech and science fields give lunchtime lectures,
and for several years attendees got to participate in a “Stump the Experts” quiz game, complete
with prizes.
The conference also has a number of associated, unofficial apps to help attendees manage their
schedule, find interesting events, and connect with other people.
Finally, dozens of third party events take place across the city for the duration of
the conference that, while not put on by Apple, draw in attendees of the WWDC to capitalize
on the visitor traffic during that time.
So you probably know that the Worldwide Developers Conference takes place in California, but
its exact location has changed over the years.
The first year 1987 it was held in Santa Clara, and from 1988 to 2002 it was held in San Jose.
It moved again between 2003 and 2016 to San Francisco, and recently moved back to San
Jose in 2017 and 2018.
Along with the location, the dates have shifted slightly throughout the years, but it usually
takes place in early to mid-June – with the most recent conference in 2018 held from
June 4th-8th.
Now this event probably sounds like a lot of fun and if you’re a big Apple fan you’d
probably really enjoy attending.
But tickets to the WWDC are extremely hard to get and extremely expensive.
Just one ticket costs $1,599.
And if you’re thinking “who in their right mind would pay that much to attend a conference?”
Well I have news for you, because in 2012, all 5,000 tickets the WWDC sold out in just
two minutes.
And after this happened Apple realized they needed a better system to handle the high
demand, so they introduced a lottery system.
And that means today, developers interested in attending the conference have to submit
an entry registration form and hope that their name is drawn so they have the opportunity
to pay $1,599 for a ticket.
But luckily, this isn’t the only way to get a ticket to the WWDC. Apple offers free
ticket scholarships to students in a STEM field who show promise in technology.
In 2018, the scholarship application required submitters to create an interactive Swift
playground app that was judged for its creativity and technical accomplishment.
And other conference-goers are able to grab tickets that were never claimed in the lottery
process – but they still have to pay full-price.
And for all of us lottery losers or people who can’t afford to attend, we can still
watch most of the conference content online.
Now, it’s worth mentioning that the WWDC isn’t the only Apple conference that’s
ever existed.
In 1985, IDG World Expo, a marketing group, hosted the very first Macworld Expo.
This event combined an exposition and a conference into another weeklong event that was held
semi-annually, once in San Francisco and once in another location, usually the eastern United
States but sometimes going as far as Tokyo.
The exposition part of Macworld featured not only Apple’s own work, but devices and software
by outside developers that supported the Mac platform.
The conference portion included a Keynote from Steve Jobs, and later other members of
the executive team.
Some big announcements were made at Macworld over the years, like the introduction of the
iPhone in 2007 and the MacBook Air in 2008.
The most unique thing about Macworld, however, was its culture.
The expo was known for having a pretty crazy social scene and a long list of parties that
attendees could go to during the week-long event.
But eventually, Apple decided to put its focus into its own Worldwide Developers Conference,
and in 2008, the company announced that it would no longer participate in Macworld after
2009.
Now this wasn’t the end of Macworld, since it continued to be held for five more years,
but the 2015 event was cancelled, and future events were put on an indefinite hiatus.
Now, getting back to Apples WWDC, we’re going to talk about some of the most important
announcements and releases that have been made at the conference over the years.
In the first decade or so, 1987 to about 2000, the conference had plenty of announcements
– like the first public demo of QuickTime in ’91, OpenDoc technology in ’96, and
Rhapsody in ’97.
The 2000 conference featured the usual of updates on existing projects and few major
announcements, but in 2001, Apple stepped up its game and WWDC became less of a progress
report and more of a highly anticipated event.
Although Mac OS X had already been released by the 2001 WWDC, Apple announced the release
of Mac OS X Server and WebObjects 5.
This was one of the first conferences where a culture really started to develop, too – since
the thousands of attendees received a leather jacket with the roman numeral “X” embroidered
on the back.
The OS X hype carried through the next year, too – at the 2002 WWDC, where one of the
sessions included a fake funeral for Mac OS 9.
Next, in 2003, one of the biggest announcements was the launch of the Safari browser, which
was finally out of beta development.
Other big introductions included a demo of the Power Mac G5, previews of Mac OS X Panther,
and some special attention to Steve Jobs’s newfound relationship with Pixar, since the
conference offered an advance screening of Finding Nemo and received their very own first-gen
iSight camera.
By the next year, word had definitely spread about the benefits of attending Apples WWDC.
And ticket sales for the 2004 conference grew almost 20% compared to the previous year,
with 3,500 developers in attendance.
During this event, Jobs announced the release of Mac OS X Tiger, iTunes 4.9 (which was the
first version with podcast support,) and new external displays.
Jimmy Eat World also headlined a concert at the Apple Campus for attendees.
2005 marked a big year for Apple and their WWDC.
It was at this year’s conference that Jobs announced that they would be making the switch
to Intel processors, marking the beginning of a long-lasting partnership that still exists
to this day.
Like the previous year, there was an increase in attendance and free entertainment from
popular musicians like The Wallflowers.
The following year included the release of the Mac Pro – a powerful new desktop computer,
and yet another development in the Mac operating system.
During this year, 4,200 people attended the conference as its reputation grew even more
popular in the tech community.
Now, in 2006, Apple had already made its biggest announcement of the year in January: the iPhone.
But there was still plenty to discuss later that year at the WWDC.
Steve Jobs revealed the official release date for the iPhone, a highly-anticipated announcement
for everyone watching.
And the following WWDC in 2007 saw a beta release of Mac OS X Leopard and news about
a Windows-compatible version of Safari.
This was also the year that Jobs announced the company name would change from Apple Computer
Inc. to just Apple Inc.
This change reflected the recent shift in Apple innovation away from only desktop computers
to a broader range of products.
And just like previous years, the conference grew in popularity with over 5,000 people
showing up.
But the next WWDC in 2008 marked first time tickets for the event were sold out.
At this conference, Apple revealed the iOS App Store and the first update to the iPhone
line: the iPhone 3G.
In 2009, Steve Jobs was unable to deliver the keynote because of medical issues, so
instead, Phil Schiller, the vice president of marketing, took Jobs place.
Schiller previewed upgrades to the previously-released unibody MacBook Pro, announced the iPhone
3GS, and showed off Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
In 2010, Jobs was back – he revealed the iPhone 4, FaceTime, and the name change from
iPhone OS to iOS.
The WWDCs popularity continued to rise and tickets sold out for the 2010 event less than
two weeks after they went on sale.
2011 was Steve Jobs’s last year hosting the WWDC, and he announced new software like
iCloud, iOS 5, and Mac OS X Lion.
At this conference, a scholarship ticket was accidentally awarded to a student under eighteen
– which was the mandatory attendance age at the time.
But the student personally petitioned Tim Cook to attend, and the mandatory age limit
changed to 13 years old.
In 2012, the ticket sale system for Apples WWDC was becoming antiquated since they sold
out almost as soon as they went on sale, and that was disappointing for many people who
simply couldn’t access the website quick enough.
But despite this, the 2012 conference was one of the biggest yet, with the release of
Apple Maps, the new MacBook Air and Pro models, OS X Mountain Lion, and iOS 6.
In 2013, Apple revealed new versions of the Mac Pro and MacBook Air, as well as iOS 7
and new AirPort models.
And in 2014, Apple finally responded to the ticket issue by creating a lottery system
to level the playing field for everyone who wanted to attend.
At the event, presenters announced the development of Swift, a new programming language, OS X
Yosemite, and iOS 8.
In 2015, it was announced that Swift would be open source and support not only iOS and
OS X, but Linux as well.
Next, in 2016, the WWDC keynote featured the introduction of iOS 10, the name change from
Mac OS X to macOS, and a partnership with Cisco Systems.
This was another big announcement year for third party developers, who were now able
to expand functionality with several Apple applications like Siri, Maps, and Messages.
In 2017, Apple used the conference to announce improvements to the MacBook and MacBook Pro,
the release of the iMac Pro and new version of the iPad Pro, and the release of iOS 11
and macOS High Sierra.
Finally, the 2018 conference was held in the first week of June, and while there were no
major hardware updates, the event did have a number of other important releases – like
iOS 12 and macOS Mojave.
Once again, tickets were sold on a lottery basis, with opportunities for scholarships
for students who participated in the Swift playground challenge.
With no big hardware releases this year, some developers are expecting to see Apple introduced
upgrades to the MacBook line and possibly new, smaller versions of iPads in 2019, but
it’s hard to predict what the future might hold for new Apple products, services, and
partnerships.
Overall, the Worldwide Developer’s Conference has been a week to look forward to in the
tech world for over twenty years.
Although expensive and often exclusive, it’s an event that many feel privileged to attend
– whether its for the new products or software, opportunity for learning, or unique social
experiences.
And for those of us who can’t attend, keynote and session videos are always made available
online.
So that is the history of Apples Worldwide Developers Conference, and if you want to
vote for the next video topic, don’t forget to subscribe.
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.