During its WWDC keynote yesterday, Apple officially outlined the roadmap for its transition from Intel processors in the Mac to new Apple Silicon chips. This roadmap includes a Developer Transition Kit hardware program, and now the first developers are being accepted into this program.
Through the Developer Transition Kit hardware and Universal App Quick Start Program, developers will receive a Mac mini powered by Apple’s A12Z processor with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. The program costs $500 and developers are required to return the Mac mini hardware at the end.
When a developer is accepted into the program, however, they have to agree to a stringent confidentiality document. In the agreement, Apple specifies that developers are not permitted to publicly write about or review the Developer Transition Kit, including the Apple Silicon-powered Mac mini:
You can find the full Universal App Quick Start Program and Developer Transition Kit agreement right here. Apple announced at WWDC yesterday that the first Mac mini kits will begin shipping to developers as soon as this week.
In actuality, this agreement is very similar to the standard developer agreement, which technically outlines that you aren’t allowed to publicly talk about things like iOS betas. Of course, Apple doesn’t really enforce this guidance, with nearly everyone publicly talking about iOS betas as they are released.
Whether or not Apple stringently enforces this confidentiality agreement for the Universal App Quick Start Program and Developer Transition Kit remains to be seen, but we do not expect many developers to take the risk. Nonetheless, it’s likely inevitable that somehow, a Mac mini with the A12Z will end up in the hands of someone who is willing to share — at which point, we’ll have all of the details.
Developers can apply for the Universal App Quick Start Program and Developer Transition Kit hardware through Apple’s Developer website.
