Earlier this week, we learned that Microsoft has signed an agreement to acquire Xamarin, an already existing partner and a leading development platform for mobile applications.
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So let’s take the press release apart in our customary style – actually not a press release – but Scott Guthrie’s blog post (it can be found here):
There is so much software that needs to be built in the next decade, along with protecting investments and making developers more productive is key. Microsoft has done a big step for the former - allowing all .NET apps to run on Azure - but it also knows it needs to work on developer productivity. The “build once, deploy everywhere” mantra is obviously powerful, and Microsoft has been an early leader in the category with the Windows Universal app. With Xamarin, Microsoft snapped up one of the leading mobile application development platforms. It will interesting to see how Microsoft will plug Xamarin into the existing tooling for mobile developers.
On the concern side, one can only hope that customers with other Xamarin partners will keep being supported, ideally as long as foreseeable and commercially viable. And Microsoft needs to also show its plans to not only enable developers but also (reasonably tech-savvy) business users to create cross-platform mobile applications.
But for now good news; congrats to Microsoft on a strategic acquisition in a key area for enterprises - mobile application development.
More about Microsoft:
Find more coverage on the Constellation Research website here and checkout my magazine on Flipboard and my YouTube channel here.
So let’s take the press release apart in our customary style – actually not a press release – but Scott Guthrie’s blog post (it can be found here):
As the role of mobile devices in people's lives expands even further, mobile app developers have become a driving force for software innovation. At Microsoft, we are working to enable even greater developer innovation by providing the best experiences to all developers, on any device, with powerful tools, an open platform and a global cloud.MyPOV – Ok, nice start by Scott. What he doesn’t mention is: mobile development gets easier and easier; it’s no longer exclusively in the hands of developers but increasingly more in the hands of (less and less) tech-savvy business users.
As part of this commitment, I am pleased to announce today that Microsoft has signed an agreement to acquire Xamarin, a leading platform provider for mobile app development.MyPOV – rabbit out of the hat.
MyPOV – Good summary of why Xamarin has been successful in the marketplace – not only partnering with Microsoft but practically all the major players in the tech-stack business. But Xamarin has always been closer to Microsoft (than say, for example, an Oracle) with its support of C# and .NET. It’s one of the ironies of mobile app development that the tooling is not in sync with the market shares of mobile devices, a higher ground that Microsoft does not want (and cannot afford) to lose.
In conjunction with Visual Studio, Xamarin provides a rich mobile development offering that enables developers to build mobile apps using C# and deliver fully native mobile app experiences to all major devices, including iOS, Android, and Windows. Xamarin’s approach allows developers to take advantage of the productivity and power of .NET to build mobile apps and to use C# to write to the full set of native APIs and mobile capabilities provided by each device platform. This enables developers to easily share common app code across their iOS, Android and Windows apps, while still delivering fully native experiences for each of the platforms. Xamarin’s unique solution has fueled amazing growth for more than four years.
Xamarin has more than 15,000 customers in 120 countries, including more than one hundred Fortune 500 companies - and more than 1.3 million unique developers have taken advantage of their offering. Top enterprises such as Alaska Airlines, Coca-Cola Bottling, Thermo Fisher, Honeywell and JetBlue use Xamarin, as do gaming companies like SuperGiant Games and Gummy Drop. Through Xamarin Test Cloud, all types of mobile developers—C#, Objective-C, Java and hybrid app builders —can also test and improve the quality of apps using thousands of cloud-hosted phones and devices. Xamarin was recently named one of the top startups that help run the Internet.MyPOV – Indeed impressive accolades. It’s back to Microsoft to reassure customers that they will keep the partnerships with Microsoft co-opetitors, such as IBM, Oracle and SAP.
Microsoft has had a longstanding partnership with Xamarin, and have jointly built Xamarin integration into Visual Studio, Microsoft Azure, Office 365 and our Enterprise Mobility Suite to provide developers with an end-to-end workflow for native, secure apps across platforms. We have also worked closely together to offer the training, tools, services and workflows developers need to succeed.MyPOV – Both vendors have partnered and demoed at Microsoft’s developer event, Build. One could ask why Microsoft only now is acquiring Xamarin.
With today’s acquisition announcement we will be taking this work much further to make our world class developer tools and services even better with deeper integration and enable seamless mobile app dev experiences. The combination of Xamarin, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Team Services, and Azure delivers a complete mobile app dev solution that provides everything a developer needs to develop, test, deliver and instrument mobile apps for every device. We are really excited to see what you build with it.MyPOV – Surprised Scott did not put a reference into the Microsoft Universal app; however, that may not be what the more mobile audience may want to read here. Still in my view, the Universal app approach is one of the most attractive offerings in the development arsenal of Microsoft.
We are looking forward to providing more information about our plans in the near future – starting at the Microsoft //Build conference coming up in a few weeks, followed by Xamarin Evolve in late April. Be sure to watch my Build keynote and get a front row seat at Evolve to learn more!MyPOV – Nice plug to the events.
Overall MyPOV
There is so much software that needs to be built in the next decade, along with protecting investments and making developers more productive is key. Microsoft has done a big step for the former - allowing all .NET apps to run on Azure - but it also knows it needs to work on developer productivity. The “build once, deploy everywhere” mantra is obviously powerful, and Microsoft has been an early leader in the category with the Windows Universal app. With Xamarin, Microsoft snapped up one of the leading mobile application development platforms. It will interesting to see how Microsoft will plug Xamarin into the existing tooling for mobile developers. On the concern side, one can only hope that customers with other Xamarin partners will keep being supported, ideally as long as foreseeable and commercially viable. And Microsoft needs to also show its plans to not only enable developers but also (reasonably tech-savvy) business users to create cross-platform mobile applications.
But for now good news; congrats to Microsoft on a strategic acquisition in a key area for enterprises - mobile application development.
More about Microsoft:
- News Analysis - Microsoft announcements at Convergence Barcelona - Office365. Dynamics CRM and Power Apps
- News Analysis - Microsoft expands Azure Data Lake to unleash big data productivity - Good move - time to catch up - read here
- News Analysis - Microsoft and Salesforce Strengthen Strategic Partnership at Dreamforce 2015 - Good for joint customers - read here
- News Analyis - NetSuite announced Cloud Alliance with Microsoft - read here
- Event Report - Microsoft Build - Microsoft really wants to make developers' lives easier - read here
- First Hand with Microsoft Hololens - read here
- Event Report - Microsoft TechEd - Top 3 Enterprise takeaways - read here
- First Take - Microsoft discovers data ambience and delivers an organic approach to in memory database - read here
- Event Report - Microsoft Build - Azure grows and blossoms - enough for enterprises (yet)? Read here.
- Event Report - Microsoft Build Day 1 Keynote - Top Enterprise Takeaways - read here.
- Microsoft gets even more serious about devices - acquire Nokia - read here.
- Microsoft does not need one new CEO - but six - read here.
- Microsoft makes the cloud a platform play - Or: Azure and her 7 friends - read here.
- How the Cloud can make the unlikeliest bedfellows - read here.
- How hard is multi-channel CRM in 2013? - Read here.
- How hard is it to install Office 365? Or: The harsh reality of customer support - read here.
Find more coverage on the Constellation Research website here and checkout my magazine on Flipboard and my YouTube channel here.