Apple, on the other hand... I've never once met a Safari dev. How does that help anyone - including Apple? Feedback with the people who develop on your product can be very valuable, and it seems Apple aren't interested in any of it.
It worked pretty well in the 2000-2009 period when you could just buy a WWDC ticket like any other conference pass... But after the iOS App Store exploded, tickets became impossible to get because they started selling out in minutes.
It may have worked well for those who are happy to replace continued, in-depth, online discussion with travelling half way around the world to exchange a few words with someone after paying a ton of money for it.
Apple never replaced their existing online discussions with WWDC. You can continue to talk to WebKit developers using the mailing lists any many Apple developers continue to be present within the Developer program forums.
I never said that Apple actively replaced anything. That's your straw man.
They also revamped the webkit.org site and started releasing developer previews of Safari every two weeks.
They still have long way to go in this area but they seem to be moving in the right direction so I'm hopeful.
Don Melton (creator of WebKit and Safari) is super cool -- if you run into him at a conf he is full of amazing lore and wisdom.