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Apple shifts WWDC 2020 to online-only format in wake of coronavirus pandemic

Look on the bright side: You won’t have to travel.

Apple has announced that while it won’t be canceling this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, it will be shifting to an online-only format in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

In a recent statement, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller offered the following comments:

“…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.”

Schiller did not specify the actual dates for WWDC 2020, though the event usually occurs in June and lasts for five days of programming.

Similar tech giants such as Google and Facebook have canceled the physical components of their I/O and F8 tech conferences, with no clear announcement of what the virtual shows will look like. Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi said in the statement that WWDC is going to be “big” and filled with “new products and technologies.” Those products and technologies will almost certainly include iOS and iPadOS 14, tvOS 14, watchOS 7, and macOS 10.16.

Apple has held its WWDC event in San Jose over the past few years. In order to offset the negative economic impact to the city from the event’s cancelation, the company has said that it will commit more than $1 million to unspecified “local organizations.”

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via Macworld