CocoaConf Alt 2013 Cancelled

CocoaConf:

Everything was falling into place for CocoaConf Alt this June. We had secured space in the hotel directly next door to the big show, and we were putting together a phenomenal list of speakers. Ticket sales were better than we had hoped. All was well until we got an email from the Intercontinental San Francisco, saying that they had determined that our event was in conflict with Apple and that due to their contract with Apple, we couldn’t use the space.

A flurry of frantic emails followed, but to no avail. We tried finding another venue close enough to make it work, but that didn’t pan out either. Since many of our speakers had tickets and were going to be at WWDC, we had to be close enough for them to pop over without missing much of the action. Nothing within our radius was available at a price we could manage.

Regardless of whether Apple forcibly pushed this decision through or not, the fact the conference is cancelled at all puts a bad taste in my mouth. It’s sad.