The Facebook F8 developer conference logo can be seen at the McEnery Convention Center.
Topline: Facebook will cancel its annual developer conference over concerns surrounding the coronavirus, the company announced Thursday, making it the second major tech conference to be scrapped due to Covid-19 this month, as the disease continues to disrupt business operations the world.
- Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, Facebook’s director of developer platforms and programs, said in a statement the company will cancel the “in-person component of F8” and replace it with “local events, video and live streamed content.”
- F8 is attended by thousands of people each year in San Jose, California, and executives typically make a host of new product announcements and updates.
- The conference was originally set to take place May 5 and May 6.
Crucial quote: “Celebrating our global developer community at F8 each year is incredibly important to us at Facebook, but we won’t sacrifice the health and safety of our community to do so,” Papamiltiadis said.
Key background: F8 is the second major tech conference to be canceled in the wake of the coronavirus. Earlier this month, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was nixed after high-profile companies, including Sony, Amazon, LG, Ericsson and Nvidia, backed out.
Google, meanwhile, has not cancelled its cloud conference, Next, in April or its developer's conference, I/O, planned for May 12 through 14 in Mountain View, CA. A company spokesperson said that it will follow "best practices" from the likes of CDC and WHO and the event's website says that it will allow people who register to cancel for free until April 15 "so that travel decisions can be made based on what is the best for the health and safety of all attendees."
