Apple are charging you to watch WWDC videos.

rufo · on July 17, 2009

Just like they do every year...?

EDIT: Also, if you went to WWDC, you already get free access.

nailer · on July 17, 2009

It still feels weird to me for a company to charge for instructional videos on their own platform. Google doesnt' do it with Android - there are heaps of tutorials on YouTube coverring different APIs. Microsoft doesn't do it for their tools either. Google want to sell Android apps, Microsoft wants to sell development tools, Apple want to sell iPhones. Why charge?

jstevens85 · on July 17, 2009

Apple is only charging for videos from WWDC. They provide a whole bunch of free iPhone development video tutorials if you sign up as an iPhone developer (which is free also). I'm not sure why they don't provide WWDC stuff for free, perhaps they're worried that it would discourage people from turning up to the conference.

jemmons · on July 17, 2009

Do you have any idea how many man-hours go into the preparation of WWDC talks? Sure, other people may give away their development presentations. But then, they're not (IMHO, etc, etc) nearly as informative, polished, or well produced as standard WWDC fare.

Like seemingly everything related to Apple, if you don't perceive -- or just aren't interested in paying for -- the difference in quality, don't buy it. But also please at least consider not insulting the intelligence of those who do and are by claiming the cost isn't justifiable.

bep · on July 17, 2009

Do you have any idea how many man-hours go into the preparation of WWDC talks?

Because preparing for TechEd, PDC, WPC is cheap, isn't it? Or their presentations are not any good? The truth is Apple knows that people will pay for those things, so they charge for them.

jemmons · on July 17, 2009

Or their presentations are not any good?

Yes. Exactly. I'd say "not as good", but whatever you like.

bep · on July 17, 2009

Oops. Thanks. I have to improve more in my English.

klaut · on July 17, 2009

Because Apple knows that people will pay.

nailer · on July 17, 2009

I doubt, for example, students would pay $300 for development videos. They would, however, happily watch those videos if provided for free on Youtube, and perhaps make something awesome because of it.

silencio · on July 17, 2009

Although I went to WWDC, I'm also a student, and if I wanted the videos because I thought I would learn from them, I would happily pay $300 for them. Just like how I've purchased a fair number of iPhone programming books, just like how I'm buying a new MacBook Pro..

lpgauth · on July 17, 2009

Of course you have to pay, what would be the point of paying 1500$ for WWDC if you can get all the session videos for free?

plinkplonk · on July 17, 2009

"what would be the point of paying 1500$ for WWDC if you can get all the session videos for free?"

other paid for conferences do release videos of the talks so this argument isn't very persuasive.

silencio · on July 17, 2009

the labs. the people. the other attendees. the fact that you can actually go up to an engineer who worked on something that has been bothering you for weeks and at least leave with a workaround, if not a full on fix for it. that alone to me is well worth more than $1500.

eloop · on July 17, 2009

Just like rag trade fashion costs.