WWDC 2011 Dates Announced!

If you were hoping to be at the Wolrdwide Developers' Conference this year, hopefully you acted fast when Apple announced the dates and opened up sales for tickets! The ticket prices this year were $1,599 each and, even at that price, sold out in less than 12 hours! For those of you that heard the news late, you're going to have to wait until 2012. While it isn't unusual for these conferences to be sold-out, it is a bit unusual for it to sell out in one day. The 2010 conference took eight days for the conference to sell out, while the year before in 2009 took the whole month to sell out. For those people that were lucky enough to get their ticket right away, the event will be taking place June 6 through June 10. During those days, there will be over one-hundred technical sessions for both iOS and Mac OS.

Courtesy of: Apple.com

In a press-release early Monday morning, Apple Senior VP, Phil Schiller, announced that this conference will have a 'double-focus' on iOS and Mac OS and will 'unviel the future' of the two. This year's event is expected to be much more spectacular than previous years as they have never focused both on Apple's mobile products and Mac OS.

Jesus Diaz, a blogger with tech enthusiast site Gizmodo, thinks that Schiller's statement says it all as he writes: "Obviously, the future of iOS and Mac OS X are iOS 5 and Lion." While I can't see the complete justification for Lion, I can completely see why he thinks they will unviel iOS 5. It seems to be a yearly tradition for Apple to introduce it's new iOS device at the WWDC, the spring before the release. (See models and release dates here.) Partly for developers to be able to use the new iOS to be able to support it when it is officially released, and partly, I think, so the consumers (you and I) will build up anticipation and won't want to wait weeks after it's released to go out and buy it.

But what if Apple breaks the traditions of it's past? Only time can tell, as one analyst, Michael Gartenberg says:

You get caught up in the patterns, and it holds true, until it doesn't. There is no reason for Apple to follow a predictable yearly pattern, and it keeps their competition off gaurd a little bit.

So we'll see what happens. I personally don't think it will come any later than the WWDC. I don't think that Apple would want to upset all of their consumers of one of their biggest products!

But what's your opinion? Sound off in the comments below!