“If you really want to attend Apple’s sold-out Worldwide Developers Conference in June but didn’t snap up tickets right away, sellers on eBay and Craigslist might have what you want – but at a hefty price,” Bob Brown reports for Network World.
“Apple sold out its event, which will be focused on iOS and Mac OS X software, in under 12 hours,” Brown reports. “Tickets went for $1,600 face value.”
“Last year, WWDC sold out in 8 days, indicating that Apple has somehow become an even a hotter ticket as developers rush for gold to be had in building and selling products for iPhone, iPad, Mac and other Apple platforms,” Brown reports. “Apple dominates the global market for mobile apps and last year sold $1.8 billion worth, according to one recent report. We spotted WWDC 2011 tickets Tuesday morning on both eBay and Craigslist, but not at face value of course.”
Brown reports, “One ticket on eBay features a Buy Now price of $3,150 and bidding on the ticket is scheduled to take place between now and April 5.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Apple sells out WWDC 2011 in record 10 hours – March 28, 2011
Apple Worldwide Developers Conference to kick off June 6 at Moscone West in San Francisco – March 28, 2011
Makes you wonder how many were purchased for this reason alone?
I thought about doing this but figured the purchase was not transferable and didn’t want to spend the time to read the small print.
It’s not like a movie ticket.
You have to have an AppleID and I thought it was not transferable.
Maybe selling it to other developers is the idea.
Sounds like cause to revoke a member’s developer status. Can’t wait to hear how Steve deals with this; I’m sure it will not go ignored.
Steve who?
There are a lot of events for which I can imagine paying more than face value to gain access.
But we are genuinely through the looking-glass when people start scalping on geekfest conventions to talk about APIs, memory handles and the intricacies of the 30-pin dock connector or Thunderbolt.
One thing someone needs to answer: has a Microsoft DevCon or PDC ever been subject to ticket scalping?
This is just plain wrong. Not sure about Apple’s policy, however, these tickets ought to be non-transferable.
I’m not so sure about that. It doesn’t say anything about not being able to transfer tickets on their site, so that would suck if a company bought tickets thinking someone from a department would go, and just put down a temporary name, or if the person couldn’t go due to an emergency, that nobody else could go in their place.
While the scalping prices are high, keep in mind that you had to be registered to buy the ticket, and really plugged in to be aware that the tickets went on sale. In other words, the people selling tickets aren’t the type of people who buy tickets to concerts with hopes of selling them for a profit. These are people who purchased and now see that the opportunity cost isn’t worth going as opposed to the profit that can be made selling the tickets.
What Apple should do is meet demand. Make the sessions available as podcasts. Hold another WWDC as soon as possible. Make plans for the next one to be bigger.
Last year the conference sold out in 8 days. The platform is much bigger now, and it seemed likely it would sell out in a day or so.
Hey MDM, what’s with the “flashing” (read “annoying”) “No Joke YOU might be our WINNER” banners????
Hey MDN, what’s with the “flashing” (read “annoying”) “No Joke YOU might be our WINNER” banners????
I agree, these ads seem to exceed the standards by which the other ads adhere to. They cross line line between advertising a product or service and misleading users with a scam.
There are no “tickets.” People register and pay using their own identification. When they show up to the conference, they identify themselves and get the access pass. I would be very wary of paying someone $3800 on eBay and hope that the “non-ticket” can be transferred from one person to another.
All Apple needs to do is make it non-transferable but refundable up to a specific date. There is probably a waiting list, so when a “scalper” gives up and asks for a refund, Apple can offer that spot to someone on the waiting list.
People will always look for a loophole…