The Cancellation Of The Great Technology Celebration Due To COVID-19

Illustration of events canceled due to corona (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The coronavirus disease or COVID-19 that has spread globally makes everyone worry and feel threatened because of this virus. As a result, several major annual technology company celebrations were canceled.

This virus greatly affects the daily routine of businesses in the United States (US). The government in Uncle Sam's country has also called for rules for companies in US states to postpone or cancel their large meeting for a while.

In fact, earlier this year there were many big events from a number of technological celebrations. Starting from Google I / O, Apple Conference, E3, to the Mobile World Congress (MWC) event.

However, due to the outbreak of the corona virus pandemic, the annual event for companies and developers to showcase their latest technology must be canceled or postponed. Even if forced to continue, technology companies change the format of the program to live streaming internet.

Then what technology events were canceled or postponed, the following VOI summarizes from various sources:

1. Mobile World Congress, is the world's largest annual smartphone conference held in Barcelona, Spain. Usually, it involves the announcement of new gadgets, such as smartphones, and other technologies.

One of the highlights of this year's event is 5G connectivity, where smartphone vendors are competing to show off their latest devices with this technology.

The official cancellation announcement was issued on 12 February. This made cellphone manufacturers LG, Oppo, Huawei and many more forced to withdraw from the event.

"With regard to a safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the current host country, GSMA has canceled MWC Barcelona 2020 due to global concerns regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel problems and other circumstances, making it impossible for GSMA to hold such an event," said the MWC 2020 pantia. through his official statement.

MWC Barcelona 2020 (GSM Arena)

2. Facebook Global Marketing Summit, scheduled to take place March 9 to 12 at San Francisco's Moscone Center in the SOMA District, a very popular venue. Usually able to accommodate about 5,000 guests.

But in mid-February, the company announced it had canceled the event as the virus continued to spread to the US.

"Out of extreme caution, we are canceling this Facebook Global Marketing Summit, due to the growing public health risks associated with the coronavirus," said Facebook spokesman Anthony Harrison in a statement.

As soon as Facebook canceled its marketing conference, questions arose about what will happen to Facebook's biggest event of the year, the F8 developer conference which takes place every May.

3. F8 Conference, is the biggest social networking giant event this year and is scheduled to be held in San Jose, California, USA. Facebook still plans to hold several smaller local events and produce live material online.

However, it undermined Facebook "Given the growing concerns surrounding COVID-19, we have made the difficult decision to cancel this year's direct component of F8, to prioritize the health and safety of our developer partners, employees and everyone helping out on the F8 event," said representatives of Facebook to confirm the cancellation of the F8 event.

In light of the growing concerns around COVID-19, the in-person component of F8 will not be taking place this year. We plan to replace the in-person F8 event with locally hosted events, videos and live streamed content. Check out our blog for more details: https://t.co/WbPvSg6BEK pic.twitter.com/iL1Dt5wrVa

- Facebook for Developers (@fbplatform) February 27, 2020

4. Google Cloud Next, search engine giant Google also announced on March 2 that its Google Cloud Next event was canceled due to COVID-19 issues and will instead be held as a live conference event, covering product introduction sessions, interactive learning and questions replied with the Google team.

The conference will be held in San Francisco from April 6 to 8. But don't worry, even if it's canceled, participants who have already bought conference tickets are entitled to a refund.

5. Google I / O, is the biggest technology event of the year. Google usually announces new products and features to the world. But on March 3, the company announced it was canceling a live aspect of the event, which usually takes place at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California.

"Due to concerns around the coronavirus (COVID-19), and in accordance with health guidelines from the CDC, WHO and other health authorities, we have decided to cancel the Google I / O event at the Shoreline Amphitheater," explained a Google spokesperson.

Google also prohibits employees from traveling abroad without special permission. Even though one Google employee who traveled to Zurich, Germany, has been confirmed to be infected with COVID-19.

Google have canceled the I / O Developer conference. Google said in a statement. “Over the coming weeks, we will explore other ways to evolve Google I / O to best connect with and continue to build our developer community. We'll continue to update the Google I / O website. " #GoogleIO pic.twitter.com/MaTpRPfD2e

- Aiden Wallage // Luminoso (@Aiden_Luminoso) March 5, 2020

6. IBM Think, is IBM's largest developer conference this year, with last year's event bringing together 30,000 attendees. It will also be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from May 5 to 7, but the company canceled it and turned it into a live event featuring live content, interactive sessions and certifications, and locally hosted events.

Just like the others, IBM also imposed new travel restrictions through March. Its employees can only travel within the US for client meetings and the company plans to cut back on international travel. Employees are also encouraged to hold virtual or remote working meetings.

7. Game Developers Conference (GDC), is the biggest video game development trade show this year and is scheduled to take place in San Francisco from March 16 to 20. Event organizers announced that the conference would be postponed until this summer due to COVID-19 concerns.

Prior to the event's postponement, GDC's biggest exhibitor had pulled out of virus troubles such as Facebook, Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox, Electronic Arts and Epic Games.

This event is expected to bring in 30,000 people. Many of the exhibitors who originally planned to attend said that their GDC programming would be available online, including Microsoft and Facebook.

It's looking like the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) could be the next tech conference canceled due to coronavirus with mass gatherings banned in the county, says 9to5Mac We'll have to see. https://t.co/K5kSLIiQH5 @ 9to5mac #wwdc # wwdc20

- Chris Griffith (@chris_griffith) March 10, 2020

8. Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) was also canceled due to the COVID-19 disease outbreak. The plan will be held early June at the San Jose Convention Center, California, USA. However, Apple immediately discouraged holding the event.

This is because the local authorities have implemented a temporary ban on all gatherings and events that gather large numbers of people. This was done to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 which has spread to 114 countries in the world.

At the WWDC event, Apple is rumored to be launching many new products such as the new generation iPad Pro, 13.3-inch MacBook Pro, Powerbeats4 wireless earphones and Apple TV. Not only canceling the WWDC 2020 event, Apple has also postponed the launch of its newest 'cheap' device that has been eagerly awaited, namely the iPhone 9 or iPhone SE2.

The schedule for the launch of the device was previously set for March 31. Although it is not clear what the reason is, it postponed the launch of their two latest devices until an undetermined time limit. The reason is because, Apple is very worried that the event will worsen the spread of the corona virus outbreak in California, USA.