On Monday June 13, Coderus Limited, Innovation Martlesham and Tech East co-hosted an Apple WWDC watch party, the third major technology event of the year to be held at Adastral Park.

Ipswich Star: Coderus Apple global event - at Adastral ParkCoderus Apple global event - at Adastral Park (Image: Archant)

The event was the only one of its kind in the East of England and attracted over 100 attendees from major Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and digital companies, along with software developers and educational institutions.

Apple WWDC is an annual developer conference held in California, used to showcase the latest software, innovation and technology. The Apple WWDC events have evolved from a cult following to a mainstream global event, with the press, consumers and businesses following with keen interest at organised watch parties, like the one at Adastral Park.

On the day, visitors engaged with Apple product and software development demonstrations by the Coderus team, including the Apple Watch, Apple TV and examples of cross platform app development using Xamarin.

The event presented a great opportunity for short networking sessions with local industry professionals over light refreshments, which included handmade Apple themed cupcakes.

At 6pm, visitors were invited into the John Bray theatre, Adastral Park to join millions around the world to watch a live stream broadcast of the Apple WWDC keynote speech, direct from The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco. The atmosphere in the John Bray Theatre gave visitors the feeling of being at the event in person, surrounded by their technology peers.

Apple CEO Tim Cook opened the two hour keynote which revealed the latest software developments across all four Apple platforms, – watch OS3 for wearable technology, tv OS for in-home entertainment, mac OS, the latest desktop and laptop operating system and iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system.

Following the live stream of the keynote speeches, Jim Milne, business development for Innovation Martlesham, hosted a panel discussion.

The panel and audience discussed the key announcements made during the keynote speech including the automated home, security and privacy and the next generation of software developer using Apple’s new Swift Playgrounds, an app that teaches writing code in a fun and interactive way.

The specially selected group of experts consisted of Chris Hardcastle (Project Manager of Coderus Limited), Alan Jones Nerostorm (Founder and Tech Mentor at Innovation Martlesham), Iain Monteath (BT Tech Scout) and Chris Janes (UCS Lecturer Gamification and AI).

Mark Thomas, CEO of Coderus Limited, who has attended Apple WWDC the past 16 years said “Hosting the Microsoft Build, Google I/O and the Apple WWDC events at Adastral Park truly showcases the region’s enthusiasm to stay firmly connected to the latest technology developments. A lot of the announcements made by Apple have the potential to open up a host of development opportunities for local companies. I would like to thank Innovation Martlesham, Tech East and BT for their support in organising the three events and everyone that attended, the Coderus team look forward to seeing you all again next year.”