Novell’s Mono tools let devs create .NET apps for Android devices

Apr 7th 2011
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If app developers have a pattern of going after the iPhone first and Android second , well, an identical is seemingly true of the folk who write software for the code monkeys. Novell just announced Mono for Android, the 1st set of tools that lets devs write .NET and C# apps for Android phones and tablets. Novell already lets developers do the identical for Linux, iOS, and Mac OS X and, as always, lets coders continue to take advantage of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 to put in writing applications — if that’s the testing software they’re used to. Apart from the Visual Studio plug-in, you get bindings for native Android APIs and the core Mono runtime. It’s available now, starting at $99 for college students (minus the flexibility to, you already know, send finished apps to Android Market) and $399 for everyone else. Already developing for the iPhone? Prove which you own MonoTouch (essentially, a similar Novell product for iOS devices) and get 50 percent off an Android tool kit.

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Novell First to Enable Development of .NET Applications for Android using Microsoft Visual Studio
WALTHAM, Mass.

April 6, 2011

Novell today announced the provision of Mono® for Android, the primary solution for developing Microsoft* .NET applications for the Android* platform using Microsoft Visual Studio*. With the addition of Mono for Android to its existing Mono development tools, Novell is enabling Microsoft .NET and C# developers using Visual Studio and other environments to make use of a standard code base to simply create applications for the industry’s most generally-used mobile devices, including Android-based smartphones and tablets, Apple iPad*, Apple iPhone* and Apple iPod* Touch.

In response to statistics released by research firm Nielson, Android has a 29 percent consumer market share, making it the hottest smartphone platform. With Mono for Android, .NET developers and independent software vendors (ISVs) can utilize Visual Studio and their existing skills to construct an enormous array of Android-based applications and sell their products into this large market.

“Because the introduction of MonoTouch in 2009, developers have experienced how Mono streamlines mobile application development,” said Miguel de Icaza, Mono project founder and vp of Developer Platforms at Novell. “A result of, many asked us to construct an analogous tool for Android. We developed Mono for Android to provide both individual developers and businesses a technique of sharing their code across multiple mobile platforms, increasing efficiency and reuse in their C# and .NET expertise around the board.”

Mono for Android involves the core Mono runtime, bindings for native Android APIs, a visible Studio 2010 plugin to develop Android applications, and a software development kit that contains all of the tools had to build, debug and deploy applications. Developers trained in Microsoft Visual Studio can stay within their preferred IDE, while using their existing skills and .NET code, libraries and tools, in addition to C# programming knowledge, to create mobile applications for Android-based devices. With the Visual Studio 2010 plugin, engineers can develop, debug and deploy their applications to an Android simulator, an Android device or the Android Application Store.

Mono for Android complements MonoTouch, Novell’s popular solution for developing applications for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Developers utilizing Mono for Android and MonoTouch can save money and time by sharing common code between iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android phones and tablets, in addition to Windows Phone 7, Windows desktops and Windows Server. A Mono for Android add-in also allows MonoDevelop users to develop on OS X.

“As a mobile software developer and middleware vendor, Resco customers are enabled to make use of our products to develop MonoTouch, and now Mono for Android applications for Android and Apple devices,” said Michal Sartoris, senior developer at Resco. “With greater than 3,000 customers, our business success is dependent upon us delivering feature-rich, highly-quality applications to the market before our competitors. Novell is providing us with innovative, cross-platform development tools that enable us to attenuate the associated fee and resources required to create mobile applications.”

Pricing and availability
All editions of Mono for Android are available in now through http://shop.novell.com. Mono for Android Enterprise Edition is obtainable for US $999 per developer for a one-year subscription, including maintenance and updates. A five-developer Enterprise license supports five concurrent developers and is on the market for US $3,999 per year. Mono for Android Professional Edition is offered for US $399 per developer for a one-year subscription. For a limited time, existing MonoTouch customers can receive a 50 percent discount off an analogous Mono for Android Edition because of their activation code as a reduction code.

For additional information about Mono for Android, visit http://mono-android.net. To be told more concerning the Mono Project visit http://www.mono-project.com.