Top 7 Expected Benefits from Microsoft’s Acquisition of Xamarin

In a highly strategic move, Microsoft has acquired the leading mobile app development platform, Xamarin. Developers can now leverage this platform together with Microsoft Visual Studio for building cross platform mobile apps with C# while retaining native user experience.

Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of the Cloud & Enterprise division at Microsoft wrote in a blog that, 'The combination of Xamarin, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Team Services, and Azure delivers a complete mobile app development solution that provides everything a developer needs to develop, test, deliver and instrument mobile apps for every device.'

With the acquisition of Xamarin by Microsoft, Enterprises focusing on Cross-platform Mobile App Development can expect these seven distinctive benefits:

1. Complete Mobile App Development Platform

   Together Xamarin, Visual Studio and Azure form a robust mobile application development solution. It comprises everything that is needed for developing, testing, and deploying mobile applications for multiple platforms. This permits developers to rapidly develop cross-platform mobile apps. Thus, enterprises looking to deploy app across multiple platforms can benefit from cost as well as time savings.

2. Seamless Cloud Integration

   Microsoft’s Azure cloud hosts an array of world-class development tools and services. By acquiring Xamarin, Microsoft is ensuring a deep integration with Azure technologies to provide an enhanced mobile app development environment. This will enable solution providers focusing on Azure and Xamarin to provide rich and comprehensive business solutions.

3. Extensive Enterprise Mobility Solution

   Azure plus Xamarin app development framework is the perfect enterprise mobility solution. Azure brings to the table all the benefits of a leading cloud platform, including high scalability, high availability, on-demand resource allocation, pay-as-you-use and Microsoft’s unmatched support. In addition to this, Xamarin empowers enterprises to easily develop applications with up to 75% re-usable code across multiple platforms, including Windows, Android, and iOS. Thus, enterprises can deploy a cloud-based enterprise mobility solution which is compatible with any major mobile platform used by their workforce.

4. Greater Security & Stability

   Microsoft offers Enterprise Mobility Suite, which includes few components such as Active Directory, Device Registration, Mobile data management, Authentication and security over the cloud. With the union of Microsoft and Xamarin, we can expect greater product stability and data security through Microsoft various offerings. This will be a great advantage for enterprises and developers to develop end-to-end mobility solutions with much ease to aim accelerated business growth.

5. A Better Test Cloud

   Xamarin offer Xamarin TestCloud, which helps in mobile application testing and allows test on 2000 real devices on the cloud. It provides an object-based UI testing for simulating real user interactions. With Xamarin becoming a part of Microsoft’s stable of technology offerings, enterprises leveraging Azure for their mobile app development needs. This will benefit them from a possibly rebranded Xamarin TestCloud which will still feature the standardized testing formats.

6. More Sophisticated Development Platform

   With Microsoft’s support, Xamarin will benefit from greater funding, allowing it to develop and grow into a sophisticated mobile app development platform for handling enterprise challenges. This means that enterprises looking at this platform for application development will be able to deploy more powerful and robust apps for their business mobility.

7. Xamarin License Integration with MSDN Subscription

   Enterprises that already have or are looking to get a Microsoft MSDN subscription, can save 20% on the purchase of Xamarin Business and Enterprise subscriptions. This offer is for MSDN subscribers who buy a Xamarin subscription not later than 60 days following the renewal or purchase of Visual Studio. This offer leads to a lot of cost benefits for business that want to mobilize their legacy .NET code rapidly. It is a big plus for those wishing to leverage Visual Studio and C# for their Android and iOS development needs.

Cross-platform mobile app development is definitely the need of the hour. Popular platforms, including Windows, Android and iOS are prevalent in almost every industrial sector viz., logistics, manufacturing, automotive, entertainment and media and more. Enterprises are benefitting from Microsoft Azure and Xamarin platforms for achieving their Cross-platform Mobile App development needs. With this acquisition, they can expect the above benefits and more for deploying game-changing solutions.