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Google I/O 2013 Registration Sells Out In 49 Minutes

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Re: Google I/O 2013 Registration Sells Out In 49 Minutes

#2
I'm pretty sure this outcome is exactly what Google wants. Hardest tickets to get in town, even with a $900 price tag. Why else would they continue to give away such great swag at an event with such high demand?

On the up side, streaming basically the entire event for free does calm the righteous indignation to a degree.

Still, it would have been nice to get a chance to meet and chat with other people working on the platforms I use.

Re: Google I/O 2013 Registration Sells Out In 49 Minutes

#4
post #3

Given that 99% of the people I could see on Twitter were not able to get through to the checkout, 49 minutes feels like a relatively meaningless number. I suspect that if the system actually worked properly it would have sold out in 30 seconds.

From what I've been reading, it sounds like Google Wallet was really the weak link in the chain. A significant number of reports from people who were lucky enough to grab a slot indicated 5xx errors and other difficulties with the payment processing stage. If that hadn't been an issue, I think the sellout would have been reached a lot sooner.

Re: Google I/O 2013 Registration Sells Out In 49 Minutes

#5
I was extremely frustrated that, while I had been "reserved" a ticket, the payment repeatedly timed out and I was kicked back to the "we're looking for tickets" page.

Oh well, I guess that's what happens when hundreds of thousands of people are DDoSing a page.

Re: Google I/O 2013 Registration Sells Out In 49 Minutes

#7
post #2

I'm pretty sure this outcome is exactly what Google wants. Hardest tickets to get in town, even with a $900 price tag. Why else would they continue to give away such great swag at an event with such high demand? On the up side, streaming basically the entire event for free does calm the righteous indignation to a degree. Still, it would have been nice to get a chance to meet and chat with other people working on the…

As well as the online streaming, I highly recommend going to a I/O Extended event, if one's happening near you (Google will publish a page listing them all nearer the time). Last year the London event was over at Google's co-working space, and as well as streaming some of the sessions, they brought along sample hardware, t-shirts (if that's your thing), and a lot of good networking opportunities.

Re: Google I/O 2013 Registration Sells Out In 49 Minutes

#8
post #3

Given that 99% of the people I could see on Twitter were not able to get through to the checkout, 49 minutes feels like a relatively meaningless number. I suspect that if the system actually worked properly it would have sold out in 30 seconds.

From what I've been reading, it sounds like Google Wallet was really the weak link in the chain. A significant number of reports from people who were lucky enough to grab a slot indicated 5xx errors and other difficulties with the payment processing stage. If that hadn't been an issue, I think the sellout would have been reached a lot sooner.

Four people from my team were able to get to the Wallet stage after 1-3 cycles of waiting for a ticket, but the purchase failed to convert to registration for all of them. For one, the CC charge went through but the redirect to the registration form didn't happen. For two of them, they were able to get to the payment phase again and successfully converted into registered purchases. I suffered a number of 500 errors and long waits, but at about 7:35 PDT I was able to get a ticket and pay+register painlessly (Wallet processed the payment nearly instantly).

What a mess, but hey, all but one of the people from my team who tried to get a ticket were able to. #Winning?

Re: Google I/O 2013 Registration Sells Out In 49 Minutes

#9
post #2

I'm pretty sure this outcome is exactly what Google wants. Hardest tickets to get in town, even with a $900 price tag. Why else would they continue to give away such great swag at an event with such high demand? On the up side, streaming basically the entire event for free does calm the righteous indignation to a degree. Still, it would have been nice to get a chance to meet and chat with other people working on the…

"I'm pretty sure this outcome is exactly what Google wants. [...] Why else would they continue to give away such great swag at an event with such high demand?"

I agree. Giving away equipment worth more than the ticket price doesn't attract the right crowd.

Apple has similar problems (lots of devs who want to come, but not enough space or manpower) but it at least seems to put in an effort to filter out the developers who don't need access to Apple engineers. It doesn't give away equipment, ticket price was raised to $1600, tickets are personalized and are non-transferrable, and the presentations are put online for free soon after WWDC ends. Despite all that, last year's WWDC was sold out in under 2 hours.

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