We love the cloud and so do our developers. Xamarin developers have the ability to pick and choose a backend that fits their needs best and build out native cross-platform mobile apps on top of them, and Microsoft Azure offers a variety of services and integrations that make it easy to add a backend to apps that scale as they grow. Today at AzureCon, a full day Azure event, several announcements were made across all areas of Azure, including new Regions, Container Management Service, GPU-Centric VMs, and the exciting announcement of the general availability of Azure App Service Mobile Apps, which provides a full backend for all of your mobile apps.

Azure App Service Mobile Apps

You may be familiar with Azure Mobile Services, a simple way of easily adding an online/offline cloud backend to your mobile applications. Azure App Service introduces Mobile Apps, the evolution of Azure Mobile Services, offering a rich set of functionality, including:

• Online and Offline Sync
• Enterprise single sign-on with Active Directory
• Autoscale to support millions of devices
• Social integration with Facebook, Twitter, Google, and more
• Broadcast push notifications with customer segmentation
• Custom backend logic powered by C#

Not only has Azure App Service gone GA, it’s also now easer than ever to try it without any commitment. Simply head over to Try Azure App Service to experiment with one of the three Xamarin-powered, cross-platform Azure-backed apps. With just a few clicks, an Azure App Service will be spun up and you’ll have access to full Xamarin apps ready to download and test out, including our new Xamarin CRM application.

Xamarin & Azure Apps Take the Spotlight

Speaking of apps, AzureCon covered several Xamarin and C#-powered apps that leverage Azure as their backend. First on stage was Chris Witmayer from Nascar showing off the Xamarin and Azure-powered International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) mobile app for iOS, Android, and Windows. In just under 13 weeks, the team brought together a full backend powered by several Azure services and created Xamarin mobile apps now available on the App Store and Google Play that provide IMSA fans with stats, live video, IMSA Radio, timing, scoring, and more each race weekend.

Next Mike Lorengo from Alaska Airlines spoke about their mobile app, Hopper, which enables their employees to book standby travel directly from their phones. Traditionally, employees had to log into an ASP website which was not responsive, but making the move towards becoming a mobile-only company, Alaska Airlines knew they needed a better way for their employees to book. Leveraging Azure App Service, Hybrid Connections, and API Management they seamlessly exposed their data to their Xamarin-built iOS and Android applications.

On top of this, using continuous integration with Visual Studio Online they were able to commit, build, and release seamlessly.

Check Out Azure App Services Today

If you missed any of AzureCon today, don’t worry! You can still watch the full recording to see all of the awesome Xamarin apps showcased today. Then be sure to try it for yourself with the new Try Azure App Service website.