Microsoft is going to San Francisco to steal some of Apple's WWDC thunder

Microsoft and Xamarin are hosting an afterparty on the day of the WWDC for iOS app developers. Microsoft is enticing all OS X and iOS developers to unwind with free food and drinks just after the Apple’s conference, on June 13. Conveniently for Microsoft, the headquarters of its Outlook mobile team is at San Francisco. Outlook is just one of the many powerful applications Microsoft has released across multiple platforms, including iOS. A powerful mail application is one of the things we hope Apple gives us at WWDC. Microsoft is giving examples of its office applications, SwiftKey, Skype, Cortana and MileIQ as successful iOS apps that it has released. These are meant to attract attendees of the WWDC to the afterparty, which is scheduled to be held just after the main event at WWDC 2016. Microsoft wants to help developers build applications for iOS, but at the same time may want to make it easier for these developers to release the same apps on other platforms as well. Microsoft’s tools do offer a compelling developing platform, even for iOS developers and we’re sure that some will be tempted, if only for the free food. Other attractions at the party include Xamarin’s Test Cloud Wall and something known as the Xamarin playground. Robots and drones are also promised, including Sphero, Robugtix and Parrot Drones. For those not convinced, or those too excited by all the partying, there are relaxing massage chairs available. The cheeky afterparty  web site calls the event “the future of apps”. Xamarin is a cross platform app development platform with powerful features for developers. Xamarin offers tools for every stage in an app development life cycle, for development, testing, deployment and analytics.  Xamarin was acquired by Microsoft in February this year.