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It appears Google I/O has already sold out faster than it did the previous year, something we predicted would happen in our reminder post. Droid-Life professes the event sold out in 28 minutes. That time would still have beat the record of 59 minutes set last year. But most people are saying that, unless you ordered tickets the very second the site opened, you weren’t going to get any even one minute into the sale.
Our own Rob Jackson attempted to purchase a ticket for one of our developers as soon as registration went live, but was ultimately denied and told that they were all sold out. Reports from many others indicate the same. Even fabled developer Koushik Dutta was shunned. (For what it’s worth, CyanogenMod head Steve Kondik successfully purchased one.)
We’re eager to hear what the official number will be as told by Google, but no matter if it were 28 minutes or 28 seconds, it’s impressive.
More than impressive, I can also imagine that it’s very frustrating to feel like you’ve never even had a chance. Whether it’s due to a site not optimized to handle traffic (you would think Google would be capable of handling that considering they are one of the most visited sites on the web) or because there is simply way too much demand and not enough space, Google clearly has a large stable of developers who want to be on the Android and Google Chrome train.
Perhaps they could try expanding their event into other areas of the Moscone Center, or perhaps find a new venue. Or perhaps they’ll just do nothing. Who knows? And I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, but Google could hold another sale in the near future and give away tickets on their Twitter account.
It’s happened before, so it’s plausible to suggest it could happen again. Also, you can expect to see some Google I/O tickets listed on eBay before too long, though listings will be scarce and the prices will be heavily and grossly inflated. Let us know if you were able to get a ticket or not. [Update]: It seems getting a ticket from anyone but Google is not a good idea. They’re saying that anyone scalped tickets will be null and void.
Took me three tries on three browsers open to finally get one. I was on right at 7am and didn’t get one until 7:15
From Google on google+:
Google I/O has officially sold out! It took just a bit over 20 minutes! (We were experiencing 6,250 qps load on our servers at 7:01am!)
I resorted to opening 10 windows and must have re-tried at least 20x on each one before I finally got a ticket
Same here. I clicked within a second or two of when it went live and was denied multiple times, finally got one at 7:15.
I got mine after the 10th attempt. So 28 minutes is more realistic than 28sec. It just seems that the system returned no tickets even if tickets were still available
based on network principles, they probably did sell out in 28 seconds as far as – someone created a session with the site that reserved a ticket. then later (1 min, 5min, 30 min, whatever) the system was able to process those sessions for people to pay.
I would say tickets had been ‘assigned’ to sessions and ‘sold out in 28 seconds’ but people didn’t complete the transaction, either failed the test or failed to pay for it etc. These tickets would timeout and go back into the system for sale.
It sort of makes sense when other say they had to try multi times before they go a ticket.
This year Google clearly specified that resale was not allowed and a resold ticked would be “nulled”. So if you’re looking into buying a ticket on eBay – please be aware that you might be paying for an “nullified” ticket… Be careful!
Disappointed that “First Come, First Served” was not true, as promised. Should have just made it a lottery.
It would seem that ‘first come, first served’ was true……. ?
Well I first got the “no more tickets” message at 7:02, but was told to try again. Others got tickets after 7:02 and it wasn’t sold out until 7:28. Seems like others that got in the virtual line after I did got tickets.
That doesn’t seem like “first come, first served.”
This doesn’t make any sense. I just read a week ago that interest in Android development was waning….
http://phandroid.com/2012/03/24/developer-interest-in-android-waning-oh-please/
This article refers to people that want to develop Android, and the article you refer to talks about app/game developers…
Ehh no it doesn’t…
Google io is mostly for app/game developers, and pretty much all android related keynotes are about best practices for app-development on android.
I would go simply in the hope of snagging some free Google I/O shit. That alone is worth the price of admission.
Don’t let the true get in the way of some page views………
Scalpers have already resold I/O tickets on EBay for $2000 – $4,500!!! – http://www.ebay.com/csc/i.html?_sacat=See-All-Categories&_from=R40&_nkw=google+io&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc
I really hope both the scalpers and enabling-buyers get screwed.
That’s disgusting. The buyers could just be average people who, as the article says, felt they didn’t even have a chance to get the tickets legitimately. You can’t blame them for getting scammed.
Academic tickets sold out in about 15 minutes, the rest were sold out around the 28 minute mark. I got my regular-priced ticket about the 17 minute mark.
I tried getting an acedemic ticket within a minite of registration opening and i didnt get 1. Then i tried later for a regular ticket and i got approved but didnt have enough money in the bank
Apparently from the above comments, you had to open a dozen sessions and refresh constantly to even have a chance. Mismanagement on Google’s part for sure. First come first serve? Ha! So much for that.
Seemed more like seconds for me, multiple browsers and was in at 7:00 am on the dot… no ticket for me
This kind of sucks. I got one but my colleague did not and i can’t go without her and there are no refunds and i can’t sell my ticket. So I’m pretty much screwed
Why can’t you just go?
You can transfer ownership if you are unable to go. I have a friend who is looking for a ticket email me at [email protected] if you want to hand it off. But of course the transfer must be viewed and approved by google
I gave up on getting a ticket. But even for an event as this, I highly doubt it sold out for 28 seconds. Twenty eight minutes for google I/O is more appaudable.
There seems to be such a huge apatite for this event that they ought to do a second one six months later but on a smaller scale. And, don’t let anyone attend both events in one year.
How about moving it to Vegas where they can accommodate 10k, 20k people?
Better yet move it to Chicago at the Mccormick Place the biggest one in the U.S., Orlando Florida second biggest, or Las Vegas 3rd biggest regardless they are alll much bigger than the Moscone
i tried to buy academic tickets 25 seconds after 7 am and i still couldnt get any after 15 mins…but i got a $900 when i opened another session at 7:07…..
I had 3 browsers open over 2 different computers. Similar with my two co-workers, we were all on before 7. I’m sure I had over 30 refreshes across all browsers by 7:28. Only 1 of 3 of us got a ticket…not me :-(
It did not sell out in 28 seconds. It seems that they were releasing tickets in bunches, the first 1000 at 7am, then another 1000 at 7:05am etc. I got my ticket right at 7:10, and a co worker got his at 7:15. There was a 3 minute time limit to buy tickets, that is what people were waiting in queue for. Each 1000 block probably had a waiting list for the 3 minutes to expire, then would send them back to the people waiting if the transaction was canceled, etc. I thought it was much better than last year. Google said they were doing like 6500 queries per second on their server at 7:02am. That means they could have all sold out at 7:00am to the first 5000 in the first second. I am glad it appeared stepped.
I was able to connect about 45 seconds earlier from my Chromebook than my co-worker, who was using a Mac, but it didn’t make any difference: I was unable to procure a ticket and he was. Go figure.