Filed under: Software, Other Events, Developer, iPhone, SDK
O'Reilly iPhoneLive Conference Postponed
The O'Reilly iPhoneLive Conference, which was scheduled for November 18th in San Jose, California, has been postponed.
Bill Dudney, one of the co-chairs of the conference, mentioned to me this morning that the conference had been postponed and would be rescheduled at a future date. The O'Reilly website for the conference
is now showing an announcement about the postponement, but no explanation.
Several TUAW readers have expressed their anger about the postponement, particularly because they've already purchased non-refundable airline tickets.
As we receive more info from O'Reilly about the postponement, this post will be updated.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John Williams said 2:10PM on 10-23-2008
AWESOME
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Jash Sayani said 2:25PM on 10-23-2008
Too bad for those who have got airline tickets or have made hotel reservations....
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Jonathan George said 2:40PM on 10-23-2008
It was way overpriced ($895). Typical O'Reilly conference.
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Sal C said 2:57PM on 10-23-2008
Yeah, consider me one of those that already have airline tickets.
Does O'Reilly think that I'm going to book a flight for a conference of theirs in the future? Think again.
The conference is 3 weeks away. Different story if it's 3 months away and they postpone. I saw on their website (before they changed it to the "announcement") that they were extending the early registration discount. Wonder if they "postponed" because of low registration? Do they have to pay the speakers at these events?
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Rick A said 5:32PM on 10-23-2008
The speakers may or may not get paid, but O'Reilly has to transport them, house them and feed them, probably first-class all the way -- not an insignificant cost.
Christina Warren said 3:53PM on 10-25-2008
I think you nailed it -- I bet they didn't sell enough spots to continue with the conference (to be profitable enough on their end). I still think canceling it three weeks ahead of time is kind of crappy, especially in this economic climate and with airlines getting more and more stingy about non-refundable tickets.
Like Rick A. said, speakers may or may not get paid (though generally they aren't paid, other than travel expenses, hotel and per diem for food), but the airfare and hotel stuff can add up (though I don't know about First Class on airfare, business -- maybe -- but unless you are coming from overseas, most conferences usually won't go above Coach.
YodaMac said 3:59PM on 10-23-2008
See, this is where good ol' fashioned procrastination pays off. Just sayin...
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Rick A said 5:39PM on 10-23-2008
After reading the actual announcement, it doesn't sound like it will happen, at least any time soon.
While the first paragraph says it's being postponed, the last paragraph says, "O'Reilly will continue to explore the mobile space, including the possibility for a future version of the conference." Sounds like not enough registrations to warrant going forward with it. Who knows why...
They are really stupid if they don't reimburse airfares.
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Christina Warren said 3:56PM on 10-25-2008
I can't see them reimbursing airfare, unless it was somehow facilitated through O'Reilly directly -- though that would be the RIGHT thing to do.
And I agree with you, the statement at the end makes it look like they aren't going to reschedule this any time soon, unless they start getting more requests and/or see other conferences start to emerge.
dave said 8:32AM on 10-24-2008
Well maybe they heard from Steve about new products coming and that it wouldn't make sense for the conference to take place until after December.
Ok wishful thinking on my part!
Number one issue in my mind was cost followed closely by location. If they are going to have such conferences a little sun in the middle of Winter would be nice. If they can't do that then Las Vegas.
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