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Apple's WWDC 2013 sells out in two minutes

Apple's annual developer event sells out in just under 2 minutes, an all-time record.

Josh Lowensohn Former Senior Writer
Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.
Josh Lowensohn
2 min read
Moscone West in San Francisco at last year's WWDC, which is also home to this year's WWDC.
Moscone West in San Francisco at last year's WWDC, which is also home to this year's WWDC. James Martin/CNET

Well that was quick.

After just 2 minutes, tickets for Apple's upcoming annual developers conference in San Francisco are gone.

The show took 2 whole hours to sell out last year. Apple caught many developers by surprise last April when it began selling tickets immediately upon announcing the conference at 5:30 a.m. PT. This time around the company gave developers a little more than a day of advance notice. The event will be held June 10-14 at Moscone West Center.

Apple's WWDC, or "dub-dub" as it's often referred to casually, is a mecca for Apple's third-party development community, given that it's the only Apple-run developer event of the year. The rest of Apple's product unveilings and software releases take place at press events, and there hasn't been one since the company unveiled the iPad Mini in October.

Apple

The conference, which runs the whole week and costs $1,599 to attend, is made up of developer sessions and labs, and is staffed by some 1,000 of Apple's own engineers. However the main draw for outsiders is the keynote address that kicks it off, where the company has a long history of announcing new products.

Last year the keynote speech was used to debut new notebooks, a price tag for OS X Mountain Lion, and the first preview of iOS 6, which went on to be released to the public three months later. This year, Apple has already said it will show off new versions of iOS and OS X to developers.

Apple is not alone in the growing popularity of its developer events. Google, which hosts its annual Google I/O conference in the same location on May 15, had a sellout of this year's show in less than an hour. It was just 20 minutes the year before, a big surprise given that the 2010 version of the conference took 50 days before tickets were snapped up.