Microsoft’s ‘cloud-first, mobile first’ strategy is in full force. The software giant is no longer biased towards developing software solutions for its own platforms exclusively, even their latest hardware products like the Microsoft Band works across multiple platforms. Today, that strategy is once again reinforced as Microsoft extends its hand to Android app developers.
As part of the launch of the Visual Studio 2015 preview, Microsoft will also be offering an Android emulator that hooks up to the software development platform, making it easier for developers to code for Android. The ‘Visual Studio Emulator for Android Preview’ can be downloaded today and offers developers an integrated experience that goes as far as supporting Apache Cordova and Xamarin-based projects.
This may be the beginning of a Microsoft effort to further push Visual Studio as a multi-platform development tool, by starting off as making it an added convenience for developers that want to release their apps on both Window Phone and Android. Microsoft has made earlier attempts to do so by providing extensive guides on how developers can port their existing Android and iOS apps to Windows Phone.
Visual Studio is already well known as a powerful software development tool and the addition of elements from other platforms such as the emulator make it even more productive that it already is. We’ll keep you updated on the latest news on the development progress of Visual Studio 2015 as it makes its way beyond the preview stage and towards the final release, so stay tuned!
Further reading: Android, Developers, Emulator, Microsoft, Visual Studio, Visual Studio 2015
