Apple announces WWDC 2020 as an ‘online experience’ in June

Apple today announced its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will take place in June this year. The conference will be entirely online, moving away from the in-person gathering due to “current health situation.“ Apple says the new online format will offer content for consumers, press and developers alike.

Phil Schiller, Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Marketing, said in a press release:

We are delivering WWDC 2020 this June in an innovative way to millions of developers around the world, bringing the entire developer community together with a new experience. The current health situation has required that we create a new WWDC 2020 format that delivers a full program with an online keynote and sessions, offering a great learning experience for our entire developer community, all around the world. We will be sharing all of the details in the weeks ahead.

Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP of Software Engineering, mentions that WWDC 2020 is going to be big, adding:

With all of the new products and technologies we’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.

Like every WWDC, Apple will preview the next generation of its software and services — iOS 14, watchOS 7, macOS 10.16, tvOS 14 and more — at WWDC 2020 in June. Apple revealed that its global developer community has more than 23 million registered developers in more than 155 countries and regions, as of now. The company also announced it will commit $1 million to local San Jose organizations to help offset associated revenue loss from WWDC not being held at a physical location this year.

For the first time in past three decades, the WWDC 2020 program won’t include a physical event. We’ve seen an array of tech conferences being cancelled due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, and WWDC is no exception. Apple has not specified an exact date for the conference yet, but says it will share more details soon.