Google I/O Moved to June and Extended to 3 Days, Developers Will Have to Code for Tickets

In October, Google announced the dates for its annual developer conference Google I/O. Now, however, the company has decided to postpone the event in order to extent it to three days instead of two. According to Google I/O team member Monica Tran, “an unexpected opportunity to extend Google I/O to three days” opened up only recently, so the event will now take place almost two months later than scheduled from June 27 to 29. The location remains the same: the Moscone Center West in San Francisco.

Postponing a large conference like this by two months is highly unusual. Google I/O is one of the most anticipated events in the Google community ( not in the least because of the product announcements, easy access to engineers and product giveaways). Google hadn’t sold any tickets to I/O yet, though, so the postponement shouldn’t affect too many developers.

You Won’t be Able to Just Buy a Ticket

Maybe even more interesting than the change in dates is the fact that Tran also hinted at a new application process for I/O. The last event famously sold out in less than an hour. This time around, it looks like developers will have to compete for spots at I/O. Tran tells potential attendees to use the two extra months to “brush up on [their] coding skills,” as this will “come in handy when the new application process opens in February.”

This sounds like developers will have to code and maybe even compete for spots through a competition, as Google also advises attendees to refrain from making travel arrangements until the new application process is revealed in February 2012.