My WWDC Sob Story

I was ready this year. Oh boy, was I ready. I was ready for Apple's World Wide Developers Conference. Last year, in 2012, Apple made ​tickets available on April 25th around 5:30 a.m. PDT and tickets sold out in roughly two hours. I was fortunate to get a ticket that year. A colleague, stricken with mild insomnia, was awake and noticed the tickets were on sale. It was his email (or rather, the notification sound on my phone) that woke me from my slumber in time to purchase a ticket.

That year's WWDC was a blast. I met quite a few interesting people and enjoyed the technical sessions throughout the week. With that in mind, I did my best to prepare for this year's WWDC. Like many folks, I prepared a notification system that would let me know when the WWDC page changed. I was not willing to take the chance that the notification system would fail, so I decided to wake up every day at 5:30 a.m. for a month around the time I expected that the WWDC tickets might go on sale.​

I had my first burst of WWDC-related adrenaline when my phone started going crazy with notification alerts around 5:17 pm. on April 22nd. The WWDC page was down for about an hour that day, and when it came back up I had to read the page twice to make sure that it still said '2012' and not '2013'. As it turns out, Apple decided to make a change to how it handled ticket sales to WWDC this year. Rather than just making the tickets available for sale at a random time (which upset quite a few West Coast developers last year), Apple decided to give developers a bit of a heads-up notice that tickets would be available at 10:00 a.m. PDT on April 25th. This was presumably in response to many developers who felt that they did not have a fair chance to purchase tickets before they were sold out. I had a bad feeling about this.

To prepare for buying a ticket, I decided to buy an item from the Apple store just so I could make sure that my billing and credit card information was correct. On the day of the tickets going on sale, I also logged into my account on the off chance that I could shave a few precious seconds off of the time that it would take to get through the checkout process. I had my chat client up and was communicating with a friend who was also getting prepared to buy a ticket. As the clock drew closer and closer to 10:00 a.m., I started mashing the refresh command like a monkey on crack. Finally, I was able to see the button to begin the process!​

I clicked the button, but got an error page. I clicked the back button, and tried again. I tried again and again but still received an error message. Finally, I was prompted to sign in. I did so faster than I ever had before, and was taken to an odd page. It showed my account as logged in, with my name and Person ID displayed. There was something odd though...why was my team name displayed as something like 'Chris Philbin' when that is not even close to correct? I tried refreshing the page, but got that darn error page again. At this point, my friend mentioned that he was going to switch from trying to buy a ticket with Chrome to using Safari. I did likewise, but got this:

​Not what I wanted to see.

The current time at this point? 10:02 a.m. Just in case you think that was a typo, let me repeat it for you: 10:02 a.m.​

WWDC 2013 sold out in two minutes. All 5,000 tickets, reserved in an instant.​ I didn't believe it was possible and thought that it was surely an error somehow related to the strain of having so many users hit Apple's servers at once. I had seen issues like this before with Apple's online store (particularly during the release of a new iPhone or iPad), and decided that I would keep hitting the refresh command. I did this for several more minutes. It was like the scene in a movie where the good guy keeps pulling the trigger on an empty clip.

Eventually, I accepted the fact that tickets had sold out. My friend and I chatted a bit more about this experience, and discussed options for attending alternatives such as 360|iDev or Cocoaconf later this year.

Later that evening, I spent a bit of time reading various articles discussing what had happened earlier in the day. John Siracusa, of Ars Technica and Hypercritical fame, wrote an interesting blog about WWDC:​

After yesterday’s experience of watching WWDC tickets sell out in what I measured to be less than 2 minutes, I’ve changed my mind. If the tickets had sold out in, say, 10 minutes (and assuming no server errors—more on that in a moment), then dedicated buyers would have been rewarded. If you couldn’t be bothered to be online until more than 10 minutes after the tickets went on sale, well, tough luck. Someone else wanted it more. But tickets selling out in less than 2 minutes does not reward anyone’s dedication. We were all online at 10 a.m. PDT sharp, all ready to purchase, all equally dedicated. It was a de facto lottery, with an extra layer of pointless stress added on top.

This year's solution (pre-announcing the date and time that tickets would go on sale) was, in some respects, superior to last year's solution (random time to begin selling tickets). It still feels like there is some room for improvement to this process. Perhaps an actual lottery? That would still have some measure of stress related to not knowing if you'll be able to buy a ticket, but at the very least it would avoid the "extra layer of pointless stress" noted by Siracusa. I am hopeful that Apple will come up with a better solution next year.

Don't Let Wireless Carriers Abuse the Term 5G

Kevin Fitchard, writing for GigaOM:​

4G became a meaningless term, and we tech journalists reinforced its meaninglessness by swallowing the terminology carriers fed us. If carriers get their hooks into the acronym 5G, you can bet the exact same thing will happen. Once one carrier succumbs, others will race to redefine their perfectly serviceable 4G networks as 5G networks. An the next operator to gain the slightest technical edge will start bandying about the term 6G.

This is one of those situations where journalists need to take a stand. Don't let marketers misuse a term, because doing so perpetuates misleading advertising and ultimately results in consumer confusion.​

Microsoft's Crazy Magazine Advertisement for Office 365

​Jon Fingas, at Engadget:

Americans who've received a special issue of Forbes have flipped past the articles to discover a fully functional (if stripped down) T-Mobile router tucked into a cardboard insert. Once activated, it dishes out 15 days of free WiFi for up to five devices at once, at up to three hours per charge.

I have conflicted thoughts about this move. On the one hand, it's interesting from a technical and marketing standpoint. It certainly does a good job of getting the reader's attention on Office 365 (as well as T-Mobile). The troubling part, as noted by some of the commenters in the article, is the fact that this would look awfully suspicious if someone attempted to take it through an airport's x-ray machine.

Google's Acquisition of Wavii is a Good Move

Alexia Tsotsis, in a post for TechCrunch:​

Google has finally closed the deal on Wavii, a natural language processing startup, for a price that is more than $30 million, we’re hearing from a legitimate source. Both Apple and Google were competing for the Seattle-based startup, and Google eventually won.

If you're not familiar with Wavii, it is a startup that has produced some very cool ​natural language processing and machine learning technology that aggregates news and summarizes it in meaningful ways. Wavii has a blog post on its site that explains, in general, how its technology works. The short summary of it is that Wavii creates news feeds for news topics, so (for example) it can take information from different news sources such as "Kanye and Kim K Expecting" and "Kim Kardashian: Baby Bump" and aggregate and summarize that information into something such as "Kanye West and Kim Kardashian expecting a child". Perhaps the best part is that Wavii also maintains the original source links it used to generate the summarized information so users can dig into additional details.

Anyone who suffers from a deluge of articles about the same exact news topic will appreciate what Wavii can do for users. This acquisition is a good move for Google since it will help Google to add interesting features to its search technology as well as products such as Google Now.

The House of Cards Experiment Worked Well for Netflix

Rip Empson, writing for TechCrunch:

In its letter to shareholders today, Netflix said that in spite of the fact that “some investors were worried that the House of Cards fans would take advantage of its free trial, watch the show and then cancel,” there was, in fact, very little “free-trial gaming” as the company calls it — fewer than 8,000 people signed up to watch it for free and then cancelled — out of what the company says were “millions of free trials in the quarter.”

That's great news for Netflix. There were many in the industry who were patting Netflix on the back far too early out of the gate. I took a 'wait and see' approach to the House of Cards experiment.​ Like the investors mentioned in the quote, I wasn't sure if new subscribers, drawn into free trials to watch House of Cards, would stick with Netflix after the free trial period was over. Based on Netflix's quarterly results, it is clear that the company has a winner on its hands. Kudos to Netflix for this bold attempt at reducing its dependence on the traditional content providers by creating original programming.

By the way, if you haven't seen House of Cards, you should absolutely check it out. The series will captivate you, and draw you into 'binge viewing' episodes.​

It's Difficult for Apple and Samsung to Compete with These Prices in India

Kartikay Mehrotra, in a post for Bloomberg:

Karbonn unveiled the Titanium S5 on March 15, with similar technical specifications to the Canvas HD: Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM)’s Snap Dragon quad-core processor, an 8-megapixel camera and a 5-inch touchscreen for 11,990 rupees. Samsung, the market leader in Indian smartphones, offers the same features on its Galaxy Grand for 21,500 rupees. The iPhone 5 starts at 45,500 rupees in a market where operators do not subsidize handsets.

I've recently had a lot of conversations with a friend, who is from India, about the impact that Karbonn and Micromax have had on the Indian smartphone market.​ These two manufacturers offer phones that have features comparable to what is available from Samsung and Apple but at half the price. In fact, according to my friend, these phones are cheap enough that oftentimes users will simply purchase a new phone every year since it is the easiest (and sometimes only way) for them to get the latest and greatest operating system version.

Gogo Does Not Have a Monopoly on In-Flight Internet

Jeff John Roberts at GigaOM:

In throwing out the case, Chen accepted GoGo’s argument that it doesn’t have dominant market share because it covers only 16% of all US airplanes, and it’s possible for the remaining planes, which do not offer internet, to sign up with a competing service provider. The internet contracts are sold on airplane-by-airplane basis, and not across entire airlines.

As noted in the article, Gogo has an astounding 85% share of aircraft that offer in-flight internet service in the USA. However, that is altogether different from having a monopoly on in-flight internet service when that 85% share represents only 16% of all aircraft in the USA. This lawsuit seems like it was brought forward by people who feel that they are entitled to everything that they want.

What If Zelda Was the Hero Instead of Link?

Aaron Diaz has an awesome concept for a new entry in the Legend of Zelda series:

This concept work is meant to show that Zelda as a game protagonist can be both compelling and true to the franchise, while bringing new and dynamic game elements that go farther than being a simple gender swap.

The character designs, to my eyes, look like they are a mixture of the Skyward Sword and Wind Waker designs but with a flavor all their own. My favorite design is the 'Sheika Nomad Robes' outfit for Zelda. I like that the concept for the story and gameplay share a heritage with the previous games in the series, yet it is obvious that there are new storylines and gameplay mechanics mixed in as well. Overall, kudos to Diaz for this thoughtful concept.

AppGratis was Banned From the App Store for a Good Reason

Parmy Olson, writing for Forbes:

App Gratis had amassed roughly 12 million users on iOS by then, but it also walked a fine line between expanding, and following two of Apple’s guidelines for app developers:

- That they don’t promote apps in a similar or confusing way to the App Store.

- That they provide “lasting entertainment value,” as opposed to being “not very useful, unique, [and] are simply web sites bundled as Apps.”

There has been a lot of press about this event. The fact of the matter is that AppGratis's business model--at best--skirted Apple's guidelines and--at worst--violated them. Apple's decision makes sense when you consider their goal of making the App Store a beautiful walled garden. Apple doesn't want the App Store rankings to be manipulated by developers who pay for downloads. AppGratis, unfortunately, is predicated on the idea that developers can pay to get their app out to many people for free (i.e. 'gratis'), which ran afoul of Apple's guidlines.

Companies Suddenly Want to Get Into the Android Launcher Business

Parmy Olson, writing for Forbes:

Messaging app KakaoTalk is gearing up to release an Android launcher that will be similar to the mobile product Facebook announced last week called Home. KakaoTalk’s co-CEO Sirgoo Lee revealed the plans in an interview with Forbes, adding that the launcher would be released “within a couple of weeks” and would make accessing its free-messaging and calling app easier for current users, most of whom are in southeast Asia. “We hope to put in features that will attract non-KakaoTalk users as well,” he added.

Facebook's recently announced Facebook Home, it seems, will be the first of many Android launchers that will attempt to garner greater visibility by catering to their specific user base.​ Also, I was unaware that KakaoTalk has such a large percentage of users in South Korea (66%) when compared to Facebook's share (17%).