In brief: Apple on Friday confirmed what everyone had suspected - the in-person segment of its annual Worldwide Developers Conference isn't happening this year due to current health situations.
Instead, Apple will host WWDC in June as an online event complete with a web-based keynote and sessions. Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, said that with all of the new products and technologies they've been working on, WWDC 2020 is going to be big.
"I look forward to our developers getting their hands on the new code and interacting in entirely new ways with the Apple engineers building the technologies and frameworks that will shape the future across all Apple platforms," Federighi added.
Shifting big tech conferences like WWDC and Microsoft Build online to help slow the spread of the coronavirus is likely to have a lasting impact on how coordinators handle future events. For one, it gives even more people an opportunity to participate as the Internet eliminates boundaries.
Conversely, it makes events like these far less intimate. Gone is the opportunity to network with other developers and rub shoulders with some of the higher-ups at Apple. In business, it's often about who you know and if you don't have an opportunity to network, making strides in your field could be much more difficult.
Apple also announced it is committing $1 million to local San Jose organizations to help offset revenue lost as a result of the new online format.
WWDC by Eric Broder Van Dyke.