1. Joe Koletar – Technical Solution Specialist
Cross Platform
Mobile Development
with Xamarin
C# on iOS and Android

2. Mobile March 2014
RBA
RBA is a digital and technical consultancy
Microsoft National Systems Integrator
Xamarin Premier Consulting Partner
Named Best Places to Work in the
Twin Cities 6 times
Now hiring…
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Joe Koletar
Technical Solution Specialist
joe.koletar@rbaconsulting.com
@joekoletar

3. Mobile March 2014
Obligatory Mobile Statistic
There are more cell
phone users than
toothbrush users.
http://60secondmarketer.com/blog/2011/10/18/more-mobile-phones-than-toothbrushes/
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4. Mobile March 2014
The Mobile Challenge
Consumers now have an expectation that
any desired information or service is
available, on any appropriate device at
your moment of need.
Forrester Research, The Mobile Mind Shift
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5. Mobile March 2014
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Mobile OS Market Share
3%
Windows
42%
iOS
3%
Blackberry
52%
Android
Market share fracture and ongoing shift means
there is no obvious, single choice.
Comscore, Top Smartphone
platforms, ending January 2014
https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2014/3/comScore_Reports_January_2014_US_Smartphone_Subscriber_Market_Share

6. Mobile March 2014
Mobile Objective
How to develop applications to reach the
broadest range of users in the most effective
manner for the least cost
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7. Mobile March 2014
Understanding the Trade-Offs
Performance and familiarity increase the closer to platform
specific your app gets but so does cost and complexity.
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UI
Familiarity
Performanc
e
Mobile
Web
Native
Wrapper
Interpreted Cross
Compiled
Platform
Specific
Value for
Cost
Cross-Platform Options
Value

8. Mobile March 2014
Mobile Web
Web site with a mobile customized UI
• Detect user device and customize display to
device form factor
• Responsive Design
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9. Mobile March 2014
Mobile Web
Users access the site from device browser
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Business/Data Code
iOS
Web Browser
Android
Web Browser
Windows Phone
Web Browser
HTML 5/CSS/JavaScript

10. Mobile March 2014
Mobile Web10
Maintainability
Performance
User Experience
Offline Capability
Sensors
Toolset Choices
Cost

11. Mobile March 2014
Platform Specific
Native application is written for each
platform using platform specific IDE
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12. Mobile March 2014
Platform Specific
Native application is written for each platform
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iOS
Native App
Android
Native App
Windows Phone
Native App
Java C#Objective C

13. Mobile March 2014
Platform Specific13
Maintainability
Performance
User Experience
Offline Capability
Sensors
Toolset Choices
Cost

14. Mobile March 2014
Native Wrapper
Web App is wrapped in device specific
code to run as a Native App
Web app is hosted in a chromeless
browser window.
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15. Mobile March 2014
Native Wrapper
Web app is wrapped in device specific code
Access to sensors is achieved through bridge
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iOS Android Windows Phone
Web View
Bridge
Native API
Web View
Bridge
Native API
Web View
Bridge
Native API
HTML 5/CSS/JavaScript

16. Mobile March 2014
Native Wrapper16
Maintainability
Performance
User Experience
Offline Capability
Sensors
Toolset Choices
Cost

17. Mobile March 2014
Interpreted
Interpreted applications map a common
language to platform specific APIs
−Abstraction layer is provided on top of the native API
−Code is written to run on the abstraction layer
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18. Mobile March 2014
Interpreted
Application is written in scripting language
Script proxies provide access to native widgets
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iOS
Script
Interpreter
Native API
Android
Script
Interpreter
Native API
Windows Phone
Script
Interpreter
Native API
Script

19. Mobile March 2014
Interpreted19
Maintainability
Performance
User Experience
Offline Capability
Sensors
Toolset Choices
Cost

20. Mobile March 2014
Cross Compiled
Cross compiled applications map a
common language to platform specific
SDK
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21. Mobile March 2014
Cross Compiled
Common business logic is combined with
platform specific UI code into native app
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iOS
Native App
Android
Native App
Windows Phone
Native App
C# Android UI C# Win Phone UIC# iOS UI
C# Business/Data Code

22. Mobile March 2014
Cross Compiled22
Maintainability
Performance
User Experience
Offline Capability
Sensors
Toolset Choices
Cost

23. Mobile March 2014
Xamarin – What do you get
Anything you can do in Objective C on iOS,
you can do in C#
Anything you can do in Java on Android,
you can do in C#
Access to .NET Base Libraries
−LINQ, Generics, Task Parallel Library, Lambdas,
Async
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24. Mobile March 2014
Xamarin History24
2001
Mono
Launched
2009
MonoTouch
(now
Xamarin.iOS)
released
2011
Xamarin
Founded
First
Release of
Xamarin.
Android
2013
Xamarin 2.0
Component
Store
Xamarin Test
Cloud
Microsoft
Partnership

25. Mobile March 2014
Xamarin – How does it work25
Xamarin.iOS does
full Ahead Of Time
(AOT) compilation
to produce an ARM
binary suitable for
Apple’s App Store.
Xamarin.Android
takes advantage of
Just In Time (JIT)
compilation on the
Android device

26. Mobile March 2014
Android Demo26

27. Mobile March 2014
Develop for iOS from Visual Studio27

28. Mobile March 2014
Xamarin – What does it cost28
Licenses are per developer, per platform,
per year
• Starter – Free, Limited App Size
• Indie - $299, Xamarin Studio Only
• Business - $999, Visual Studio, Email Support
• Enterprise- $1899, 1 day SLA

29. Mobile March 2014
Xamarin – What does it cost29
MSDN Subscriber Discounts
• Business Edition for iOS and Android for
$1,399
• Enterprise Edition for iOS and Android for 5
developers for $9,999

30. Mobile March 2014
Xamarin Odds and Ends30
Xamarin University
Xamarin Component Store
Xamarin Test Cloud

31. Mobile March 2014
Thanks!
Minnesota Enterprise Mobile User Group
http://www.meetup.com/Minnesota-Enterprise-Mobile/
Download Slides
http://tinyurl.com/KoletarMobileMarch2014
Email: Joe.Koletar@rbaconsulting.com
Twitter: @JoeKoletar
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