WWDC 2012 session videos go live for developers
As promised, Apple has quickly posted videos of many of the WWDC 2012 developer sessions. There are currently 113 videos of sessions live on Apple's developer website. Sessions for both iOS and OS X application development are available …
Context & Ripple Effects
This is a logistics story with unusual reach: Apple's promise at WWDC to post session footage quickly was kept within days, and the 113-video drop covering both iOS and OS X development was picked up by at least eight outlets including MacRumors, Ars Technica, and Daring Fireball — broad attention for what is essentially a developer-website update.
The timing matters because the videos document a consequential WWDC: the same week Apple [[a:none|revived the MacBook Pro line with Retina display power]] and confirmed iOS 6 will ship without an in-house replacement for public transit route planning, so the session library is the primary way non-attendee developers absorb the new APIs behind those announcements.
First-order effects
- Developers who did not attend WWDC gain immediate access to 113 sessions on iOS and OS X application development through Apple's developer site, shortening the lag between announcement and implementation of new-platform features.
Second-order effects
- Independent Apple-focused publishers get a fresh coverage cycle from the library, since recapping and analyzing specific sessions extends the news value of a single-week conference across the summer before iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion ship.
Third-order effects
- If fast publication becomes standard, WWDC functions less as a live event and more as the annual release point for a durable training catalog, deepening developer lock-in to Apple's platforms between hardware cycles.
The trend: Apple's developer conference is evolving from a ticketed live event into a published content library that anchors its ecosystem's annual software rhythm.