After years of frustrated attempts, Microsoft has finally acquired the mobile app development company Xamarin. It would not be the first time that Microsoft has acquired such a service, as it has a long history of acquiring app companies like Acompli, Talko, and Wunderlist. The question remains, though, why is Microsoft so attracted to Xamarin in the first place?
Xamarin was created in 2011. Since this time, Xamarin extended its reach to over three hundred customers (known humorously as Xamarins). Today, however, Xamarin has further extended its reach to a whopping 15,000 customers, bringing in millions of dollars every year. The company is based in San Francisco but has bases in Arhus, Singapore, and London.
Xamarin has many distinguished clients such as Dow Jones, Bosch, Kellogg’s, Flipboard, and, naturally, Microsoft. It offers its client’s unmatched services in app and programming development, a much-needed resource in today’s age. But why exactly are such renowned companies linking hands with Xamarin – what does it offer?
Xamarin offers its clients technical, programming based services. For example, Xamarin uses software that enhances C+ programming in the development of apps for multiple platforms. Not only this, Xamarin also offers what’s known as the Test Cloud – a mechanism of testing apps on different devices, among other top-notch services.
Microsoft already had a solid relationship with Xamarin. For example, Xamarin services already work with Office 365, Azure, and Microsoft’s Visual Studio. In this sense, it’s not particularly surprising that Microsoft has acquired Xamarin, not least because Microsoft has been attempting a takeover for the past few years.
Xamarin also offers two unique tools to Microsoft: Xamarin Insights and Xamarin University. In essence, Xamarin Insights is an analytics service used to provide much-valued data on app performance. In contrast, Xamarin University is an online education platform which assists in the development of digital classes. Both are sophisticated, unrivalled tools.
As Scott Guthrie, executive vice-president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise Group, has stated: “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”.
Microsoft has announced that more details on the acquisition will be made available at the Build 2016 Conference – the most important Microsoft conference in the calendar year – held in San Francisco next month.