Microsoft Pitches Azure App Service Bundle As Easy Path To Building iOS, Android Apps

Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled Azure App Service, a bundle of new and existing services it's pitching as an easy way for developers to build Windows, iOS and Android apps.

Azure App Service includes Azure Websites, Microsoft's Platform-as-a-Service; Mobile Services, a set of back-end storage, authentication and push-notification technologies; and BizTalk Services, which integrates cloud apps with on-premise apps for hybrid cloud situations.

Microsoft has combined those offerings into a "single service with a common app hosting, runtime and extensibility model," Bill Staples, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Azure App Platform, said in a blog post.

[Related: Microsoft Launches Azure Machine Learning, Developers On Board With Predictive Analytics]

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Microsoft also has added new technologies to the Azure App Service bundle. One example is Azure Mobile Apps, which Microsoft touts as a way to build cross-platform and native apps for Windows, iOS, Android and Mac.

Azure Mobile Apps, currently in preview, adds "integration with on-premises and SaaS systems, staging slots, WebJobs and better scaling options" to what's already available in the Azure Mobile Services offering, Microsoft said on a Web page outlining the product's features.

Also new is API Apps, which lets developers "easily build and consume APIs in the cloud," and Logic Apps, which lets developers "easily automate" business processes and deal with complex enterprise integration projects, according to Microsoft.

Jason Sauers, founder and director of connected systems at Phidiax, a Denver-based Microsoft partner, sees the Azure App Service bundle as another example of the software giant's growing focus on cloud and mobility. "Azure App Service lowers the barrier of entry for API services, Web apps, enterprise integration and development with common cross-platform frameworks," Sauers told CRN. "This enables organizations and solutions of all sizes to scale and deliver quick development cycles for rapid software version releases."

Microsoft is offering Azure App Service in Free, Shared, Basic, Standard and Premium editions.

Microsoft, on a Web page outlining pricing for the bundle, said the Free and Shared tiers are for testing and development projects. The Shared tier includes SSL, domain names and other features, and is priced around $0.013 per site per hour.

The Basic tier is for apps with low traffic needs and ranges from $0.075 per hour to $0.30 per hour, depending on the amount of cores and RAM that the customer needs. All users in the Basic tier get 10 GB of storage.

The Standard tier, designed for production apps, ranges from $0.10 per hour to $0.40 per hour, depending on cores and RAM, and all users get 50 GB of storage.

There's also a Premium tier, currently in preview, which includes 250 GB of storage and ranges from $0.10 per hour to $0.40 per hour. But as Microsoft notes, these are special discounted prices that are only applicable during the preview period.

PUBLISHED MARCH 25, 2015