Following years of speculation, Microsoft has finally announced that it will acquire Xamarin, a tool that integrates native iOS and Android development into Microsoft Visual Studio.

Tech analysts have long expected Microsoft to make the acquisition, which believe will boost the company's development tools. By capitalizing on C# and .Net, Xamarin is the perfect tool for Windows developers to create applications outside of the Windows ecosystem.

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In a statement posted on the official Microsoft blog, Microsoft executive vice president for cloud and enterprise group Scott Guthrie wrote, "With today's acquisition announcement we will be taking this work much further to make our world class developer tools and services even better with deeper integration and seamless mobile app dev experiences."

On its own, Microsoft has struggled to create cross-platform development tools. In that past, the company mostly relied on hybrid HTML5 applications for iOS and Android. This made it hard for developers to create and deliver sophisticated and engaging Android and iOS apps.

With the purchase of Xamarin, Microsoft will add a new cross-platform user interface tool for developers along with the compilers needed to create native codes for mobile devices. By integrating Xamarin into the company's official .Net toolchain, Microsoft may finally create the universal platform it promised the Windows 10 operating system will be.

When Microsoft released Windows 10, the company marketed it as a universal operating system that will bridge several platforms together. A feature that aimed to attract non-Windows applications to migrate to the Windows platform.

Xamarin may be the final piece of Microsoft's cross-platform puzzle. With Xamarin's tools, Windows developers can now create native apps for iOS, Mac OS X and Android. Some tech experts predict that some of these apps might even find their way into the smartwatch platform.

One of Xamarin's biggest and probably most useful development tool is the Test Cloud. The feature automates cross-device testing

TagsMicrosoft, Xamarin, Microsoft news, Microsoft Xamarin, Microsoft acquisition, Microsoft Apps, Microsoft developer, Microsoft developer tools