Apple announced earlier today that it will host its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) virtually, beginning June 22, in the Apple Developer app and on the Apple Developer website for free for all developers.
Apple does plan to hold a keynote event, which presumably will be live-streamed on June 22, the opening day of the event.
“WWDC20 will be our biggest yet, bringing together our global developer community of more than 23 million in an unprecedented way for a week in June to learn about the future of Apple platforms,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “We can’t wait to meet online in June with the global developer community and share with them all of the new tools we’ve been working on to help them create even more incredible apps and services. We look forward to sharing more details about WWDC20 with everyone as we get closer to this exciting event.”
While this year’s WWDC event will be held virtually due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic the event will still span a week as normal. The price to attend the event usually runs $1,599 and there are usually a limited number of tickets, this year will be totally free, and millions of developers will be able to participate.
Apple usually holds a developers challenge for student developers to provide a select few students scholarship access to the event. Apple says even though this year’s event is completely digital, they will still recognize young developers.
“Students are an integral part of the Apple developer community, and last year WWDC saw attendance from more than 350 student developers spanning 37 different countries,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “As we look forward to WWDC 20, although our gathering will be virtual this year, we want to recognize and celebrate the creative contributions of our young developers from around the world. We can’t wait to see this next generation of innovative thinkers turn their ideas into a reality through the Swift Student Challenge.”
Now through 11:59 p.m. PDT on May 17, student developers from all over the world can submit to the Swift Student Challenge by creating an interactive scene in a Swift playground that can be experienced within three minutes. Winners will receive an exclusive WWDC20 jacket and pin set. For more information, visit developer.apple.com/wwdc20/swift-student-challenge.
Developers are encouraged to download the Apple Developer app where additional WWDC20 program information — including keynote and Platforms State of the Union details, session and lab schedules, and more — will be shared in June. Information will also be made available on the Apple Developer website and by email.
Apple is expected to unveil its new operating systems at the WWDC keynote event, including iOS 14, iPadOS 14, macOS 10.16, watchOS 7, and tvOS 14. Occasionally they debut new hardware, so we might see something from that range unveiled also.