Apple today announced that CEO Steve Jobs will headline a team of Apple executives, including Philip Schiller, senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing; Bertrand Serlet, senior vice president of Software Engineering; and Scott Forstall, vice president of Platform Experience, to kick off the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote preview of Mac OS X “Leopard” on Monday, August 7, 2006, beginning at 10:00 a.m. at San Francisco’s Moscone West.

Throughout WWDC, developers will receive detailed information and best practices on developing Universal applications that take advantage of the performance of Intel-based Macs, including special sessions on performance optimization using Apple software development tools.

The five-day event, which runs from August 7 to August 11, will deliver more than 175 technical sessions and labs with new content designed to serve a wide range of Mac developers, including tracks that preview Leopard and dozens of hands-on labs providing opportunities to work developer-to-developer with Apple engineers.

Other activities at Apple’s WWDC 2006 include:

• presentation sessions led by engineers and experts delivering the technical information needed to take advantage of current technologies in Tiger, and get ready for what’s coming in Leopard;
• hands-on sessions that allow developers to bring their notebooks and get firsthand knowledge of Apple’s best practices for leveraging technologies like Spotlight™, Core Image, Xgrid™, Core Data, Quartz Composer and more;
• hands-on, technology specific labs where developers can work one-on-one with Apple engineers to solve problems and answer questions;
• extra focus on digital media, system administration, game development and scientific computing communities; and
• special events and activities including the opening night’s Apple Developer Connection Reception, Apple Design Awards, Stump the Experts and Late Night Labs.

Cost & Registration

The cost of the five-day conference is $1,595 (US) per attendee, with a $300 (US) Early Registration Discount that has been extended through July 7. Visit Apple’s WWDC website for registration and complete session details at http://developer.apple.com/wwdc.