Apple Plans Auction for Contested WWDC 2013 Registration Spots

This year, to deal with the quick sell-out of Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) registrations that has frustrated developers in previous years, we’ve learned that Apple plans to reserve about 10 percent — roughly 500 registration slots — when registration opens for WWDC 2013. According to statements from Apple representatives, the company will conduct an auction of the reserved seats 3 days after all other registrations have sold out, with spots going to the highest bidders.

“We see this as a win-win,” said W.T. Fiata of Apple’s Developer Relations program. “These reserved registrations will go to the developers with the most desire, the hottest fires in their bellies, instead of to those who happen to live farther east, and Apple gets much-needed additional resources to make the WWDC even better.”

Unconfirmed reports have suggested that the auction will be conducted entirely over the Internet via a yet-to-be-released iOS app, dubbed “iBay,” but Fiata’s office had no comment on that. Internet auction giant eBay might look unkindly on Apple knocking off the company name, but when it comes to trademarks, Apple hasn’t shied away from infringing first and settling later, as it did with the iPhone.