We already know the dates and venue for Google I/O 2014 - it will take place June 25-26 at Moscone West in San Francisco but the date for registration has just been pushed back a week.

As we reported last month (see Google I/O 2014 Will Have Registration By Lottery), it really will be a matter of luck who gets to attend the event in person. But as with any lottery, you can't win unless you enter and the dates for the registration period were supposed to start on the 8th April - but if you were hoping to get started early you are going to be disappointed as the date has been change to be a week later.

According to the Help page on the Google I/O site:

The window to submit a registration application will remain open from 5:00am PDT on April 15th until 5:00pm PDT on April 18th, so you’ll have plenty of time to apply.

The reason for the delay is, according Google, to make it easier for people wanting to attend.

As the Google Dev page on Google+ puts it

"We’re still working to make the registration process even easier for you, and it will now be open four days starting next week (opening next Tuesday and closing Friday). After the registration window closes, applicants will randomly be selected and we’ll send ticket purchase confirmation emails shortly thereafter."

We all suspect that the real reason is that the code for the lottery entry probably wasn't finished in time. After all it has to be both flexible and secure - any loop holes and the potential I/O audience will find them. 

Tickets cost $900 ($300 for those eligible for an Academic Admission Ticket) and you'll need to sign into Google+ to begin and use Google Wallet to pay.

Once the registration period is over the draw will take place and confirmation emails will be sent - and then you will have to pay. 

One thing is certain however - there wont be any headlines about Google I/O sold out in x hours this year.

It's interesting to speculate what the effect of this process will be. You can only apply for a ticket for yourself - so if part of the experience is going with others you know perhaps people will opt for I/O Extended events - though at the moment all the website says about this is "More details coming soon".

The website still doesn't have any details of the sessions and in fact it doesn't have very much information on anything. Most people are prepared to risk it however as so far Google hasn't failed to supply attendees with gadgets that are worth more than the ticket price and the flow of announcements and technical sessions has made it a must do event.

If you don't make it to I/O you can always watch the video streams.

Live or remote there's likely to be a lot to be learned from Google I/O 2014, even if its own website currently doesn't give much away.