Interestingly, Apple began airing the taped keynote three minutes earlier than the public streaming. The delay seemed intentional, possibly as a way to encourage live blogging / tweeting since there didn’t seem to be any other reason for starting it early. The largest screen that Apple relied on to show the presentation was shockingly good – the clearest big screen I have ever come across, while the sound system made it seem like I was in an indoor event.
As for why Apple went through the trouble of having ~1,000 developers come on campus despite having an all-virtual WWDC with labs and sessions occurring online, the company missed the community aspect that had become a WWDC tradition. There are clear benefits found with having a virtual WWDC, such as a significant increase in accessibility. However, the face-to-face interactions and social elements that developers experience have been sorely missed the past two years.
My suspicion is that Apple will rely on the event structure again, including in September with the upcoming product event. Apple likely hopes it will be able to host the event inside Steve Jobs Theater. All-in-all, the format worked well, with meticulous planning and preparation throughout. Apple has gotten really good at putting on these massive events. More importantly, an event structure reminiscent of a movie premiere offers a good combination of virtual benefits such as the well-polished taped presentation with animated transitions that can never be replicated in real time and in-person perks like a product demo area.
An Ecosystem Event
WWDC is all about software updates with new hardware sprinkled in from time to time. As Tim Cook put it when concluding the keynote: “[W]e pushed our software platforms forward in some incredible new ways. Introducing features and capabilities that will enable our developers to do amazing work and provide our users with exciting new experiences."
A different way of thinking about WWDC is that it’s Apple’s annual ecosystem event – the one time each year when Apple shows how it is pushing its entire ecosystem forward.
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The full article includes the following sections:
Attending the Event
An Ecosystem Event
iOS 16 Takeaways
The New MacBook Air
The iPadOS vs. macOS Debate
The Big Surprise Found With Apple Pay Later
Revisiting Apple’s Credit Kudos Acquisition
CarPlay Mistruths
My Full Notes from the Keynote
Winners and Losers From WWDC 2022
An audio version of the article is available to members who have the podcast add-on attached to their membership. More information about the add-on is found here.