by Dan Moren
Microsoft makes a power play for HockeyApp
A week ago, a friend who works at a small game developer came to me, asking for recommendations on what his company should be using to distribute alpha versions of a new title. They didn’t want to go the TestFlight route, since it required Apple’s approval before they could send it to people outside the company.
Naturally, I pointed them towards HockeyApp, the other major app-testing system I’ve used.
Today:
We’re happy to share some exciting news with you: Microsoft has acquired HockeyApp! This is a tremendous opportunity to continue to provide developers with the best app development tools and users with the best app experiences.
Huh.
Well, I suppose it’s not exactly shocking: HockeyApp says Microsoft itself has actually been using the system to distribute test builds of its own apps, and Redmond has been making a point recently of writing software that runs on Windows Phone, Android, and iOS–all of which HockeyApp supports. (Since its acquisition by Apple, TestFlight unsurprisingly supports only iOS.)