Microsoft has acquired HockeyApp, a crash analytics and app distribution provider for developers building apps on iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
HockeyApp is based in Stuttgart, Germany, where it offers a range of mobile development services enabling developers to develop, distribute and beta-test great mobile applications. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In a blog post on the acquisition, S. “Soma” Somasegar, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Developer Division, said, “As mobile, cloud and DevOps continue to transform the application development landscape, we are bringing together the most complete set of tools and services for highly productive mobile-first, cloud-first development—from cross-platform mobile development tools in Visual Studio to Application Insights in Visual Studio Online.”
Indeed, Microsoft expects the acquisition to be welcome news for users of the Visual Studio Online Application Insights service, as Microsoft plans to integrate HockeyApp with Application Insights to provide a 360-degree view of usage analytics and diagnostics across all popular mobile platforms. This expands the Application Insights offering beyond server platforms.
Application Insights is a cloud-based service that collects operational, performance and customer usage information from server and client/device applications—whether they run on-premises, in Microsoft Azure, using a third-party cloud provider, or a combination of all three. With this 360-degree view into the availability, performance, and usage of their applications and services, developers can quickly detect availability and performance problems, pinpoint their root cause, and connect to a rich diagnostic experience in Visual Studio. And by knowing what their customers are doing with their applications, developers get the insights to continuously improve their applications and prioritize investments.
“We will integrate HockeyApp into the Application Insights service in Visual Studio Online to expand Application Insights support for iOS and Android,” Somasegar said.
Moreover, “Integrating HockeyApp crash reports with Application Insights usage analytics will extend device support for Application Insights across all major mobile platforms and make application analytics an ambient part of the application development cycle with support for all tiers of a modern ‘mobile-first, cloud-first’ solution,” he added.
HockeyApp provides fast and precise crash reporting with easy app integration, rich crash analysis and support for connecting directly to existing workflows and bug tracking systems. It also features a beta distribution and built-in user feedback system.
In a post on the acquisition, the founders of HockeyApp called the move “a tremendous opportunity to continue to provide developers with the best app development tools and users with the best app experiences.”
According to the post, “Microsoft has been a HockeyApp customer with many apps since the early days back in 2011, so they were already familiar with the stability and quality of our service. Creating the best developer experience is key to both Microsoft and HockeyApp; this includes delivering industry leading tools for the major mobile platforms: iOS, Android and Windows. We saw the potential of the added abilities and resources of Microsoft to make our platform even better. It may sound like a cliché, but it really does feel like a match made in heaven.”