Apple is canceling its annual WWDC conference and will instead hold it online, becoming the latest tech giant to do so amid the coronavirus pandemic
Apple is canceling the in-person version of its Worldwide Developers Conference and will instead hold the event virtually, the company announced on Friday. The announcement comes after Google and Facebook recently canceled their upcoming conferences over coronavirus fears.
"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," Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said in a press release. "We will be sharing all of the details in the weeks ahead."
Apple says the event will be hosted online and will take on an "entirely new format." Developers will still have the opportunity to get an early look at Apple's upcoming software and engage with Apple engineers, the announcement says.
The virtual conference will take place in June as it usually does, although Apple has not announced the specific dates.
Apple's WWDC is one of the company's biggest events of the year, where the tech giant usually unveils new software and features for major products like the iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. It sometimes announces new hardware products as well; last year, for example, it debuted the high-end Mac Pro, and in 2017 it unveiled the HomePod. The company also hosts events and informational sessions for developers during the conference.
Apple's annual event is the latest major tech gathering to be canceled. Google scrapped its plans to hold an in-person event for its Google I/O developers conference, which usually takes place at the Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View, and Facebook canceled its F8 event as well. Major tech conferences like Mobile World Congress and South by Southwest were also canceled as major exhibitors began to pull out over coronavirus fears.
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