eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Xamarin, a maker of cross-platform mobile application development tools, has announced its support for iOS 6 app development.
The new Xamarin release, MonoTouch 6, gives developers full access to all the native APIs associated with iOS 6’s new features, while it also allows for cross-platform code sharing between iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
With MonoTouch 6, developers can tap into new iOS 6 features, including richer layout capabilities, deep Facebook integration, and Passbook, Apple’s new coupon and ticketing application, among others. The iPhone 5 and iOS 6 release may be the most anticipated product release in Apple’s history, with a record-breaking 2 million devices preordered in 24 hours.
“Xamarin has a stellar history of delivering same-day updates to our software when new device operating systems hit the market,” said Miguel de Icaza, chief technology officer at Xamarin. “Our promise to customers is to ensure they can build fully native mobile apps, and that means supporting new iOS 6 features on the day Apple releases them.”
Xamarin’s cross-platform mobile development software allows developers to build native iOS and Android apps using C#, which means these apps can also share code with Windows apps. Businesses can leverage existing code, teams, skills and tools to get rich apps to market quickly. Developers have complete access to all the native APIs and UI toolkits unique to iOS and Android, which means they can create native experiences while sharing up to 90 percent of source code.
In a blog post, Xamarin technical evangelist Ryan Paul said, “Continuing our long history of delivering same-day updates for device platform upgrades, MonoTouch 6 is available today and includes support for all of the new iOS 6 features that will be running on millions of devices before the day is through.”
Since Xamarin was founded in May 2011, the company has experienced rapid demand for its mobile development platform. To date, more than 170,000 developers use Xamarin to build corporate, consumer and gaming apps, the company said.
“I built my mobile app business on Xamarin because it not only allows me to deliver a high performance, fully native app; it also enables me to deliver the latest mobile platform features immediately to my users. With Xamarin, my app is always up-to-date,” said Jon Lipsky, creator of TouchDraw.
Xamarin’s new release for iOS 6 is available for download on the Xamarin Website. It is free to get started, with flexible subscription options.