Google I/O: Sold Out in 28 Minutes or 28 Seconds?
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.