I/O Freebies
So now people are expecting a Chromebook Pixel and an X-Phone as giveaways at #io13 . If it’s open ticket sales again this year I can see the developer attendee count going down and the freebie hunter count going up.
At #io12 I met a guy who guy who said he was getting two of everything because he bought a ticket for himself and one for his son. His son was at college studying English, had no interest in the freebies, but took up the offer of a free trip to San Francisco in return for turning up to pick-up the goodies at the times his Dad told him to.
The sons freebies were being listed on eBay as soon as the Dad could so he could part-cover the cost of the trip and tickets.
I never met the son, so I don’t know how true the story was, but, to me, it seemed pretty plausible.