Adobe canceled its annual Las Vegas gathering Monday over concerns about the rapidly spreading COVID-19 virus. Instead, it will present Adobe Summit 2020 entirely online.
The software company, which attracts around 16,000 attendees to Adobe Summit each year, joins a growing list of tech companies scrapping live events this spring.
Google and Facebook both canceled upcoming events. Meanwhile, Twitter and others pulled out of the massive South by Southwest festival planned for March in Austin, Texas. Adobe did not say whether it will pull out of SXSW because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Will WWDC 2020 go virtual?
Apple still has not said what it plans to do about its Worldwide Developers Conference, typically held each June. Cupertino usually nails down the conference dates in March.
Apple could gather developers with a virtual conference, which is how the maker of Photoshop and Creative Cloud plans to handle Adobe Summit 2020.
“(We) have been closely monitoring and evaluating the situation around COVID-19 to ensure we are taking the necessary measures to protect the health and wellbeing of Adobe Summit attendees,” Anil Chakravarthy, Adobe’s general manager of digital experience, said on the company blog. “As a result, we have made the difficult but important decision to make Adobe Summit 2020 an online event this year.”
Adobe asks Summit attendees to sign up for updates about the digital event. The Adobe Summit 2020 was scheduled to run March 29 through April 2.
COVID-19, a disease caused by a new coronavirus that emerged in China last year, has killed more than 3,100 people and infected more than 92,000, mostly in China. However, the virus has spread rapidly to more than 60 countries, including the United States, where six have died.
Aside from the human toll, the COVID-19 virus outbreak continues to wreak havoc on global supply chains. Foxconn, Apple’s biggest manufacturing contractor, said Tuesday it hopes production will return to normal by the end of March.
Via: AdAge
