The spreadhead of coronavirus is prompting companies to cancel incidental travel . That include trade show like the smartphone - centric Mobile World Congress , which was scheduled to be held in Barcelona this week but was called off . Now Facebook has strike down its own yearly event , the F8 developer ’s conference , cite “ growing concern around COVID-19 . ”
The move is understandably out of an copiousness of caution : F8 was schedule to take place in San Jose , California , May 5 and 6 . Now all eyes are on Facebook ’s rival companies , Google , Microsoft , and Apple , who also have developer conferences in the works for early summertime . Google I / O is slated for May 12 through 14 in Mountain View , Microsoft ’s Build is schedule for the following calendar week in Seattle , and Apple ’s Worldwide Developers Conference is typically held in the first half of June in San Jose .
Facebook ’s Konstantinos Papamiltiadis , director of developer platforms , write in a Thursday blog military post that the fellowship is still planning local events and live - streamed Roger Huntington Sessions for developers to learn about changes and novel feature .
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“ This was a knotty call to make — F8 is an incredibly important event for Facebook and it ’s one of our favourite way to observe all of you from around the world — but we need to prioritize the health and safety of our developer cooperator , employee and everyone who helps put F8 on , ” Papamiltiadis pen . “ We explore other agency to keep the in - person part of F8 , but it ’s important to us to host an inclusive effect and it did n’t feel right to have F8 without our international developer in attendance . ”
Microsoft also announced Thursdaythat it will no longer look the one-year Game Developers Conference , slate for March 16 through 20 in San Francisco . The caller joins Epic , Unity , and Sony in withdrawing from the event due to the coronavirus irruption . Microsoft design to host an online event that will coincide with GDC for developer session and announcements March 16 through 18 . It ’s unclear if GDC will be canceled or proceed without some of play ’s big players .
It make sense that voluntary conferences and trade shows be called off to stem the cattle farm of COVID-19 . Facebook and Microsoft do n’t need to be the reason for a austere irruption , nor do they need to be in the news for advance people to travel when they do n’t need to . Developers will miss out on networking opportunities , but they ’ll still be able to learn about the belated growth despite the want of in - person Roger Sessions . At this full point , it ’s upright to be dependable than pitiful .
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