Microsoft has acquired the analysis and app distribution service HockeyApp.

HockeyApp is a range of mobile development services that you can use to develop, distribute, and beta test mobile applications on iOS, Android and Windows Phone, and Microsoft plans to integrate HockeyApp into the Application Insights service in Visual Studio Online. This will add support for iOS and Android to Application Insights, the service that shows application usage, availability, and performance.

HockeyApp can be used to report on crashes. You integrate it with your app, and when a crash occurs can analyze what happened, and connect directly to existing workflows and bug tracking systems. The service also has a beta distribution and built-in user feedback system. From Microsoft’s viewpoint, the cross-platform nature is the main reason for the acquisition. Writing about the acquisition on his blog, S. Somasegar said Microsoft is:

“bringing together the most complete set of tools and services for highly productive mobile-first, cloud-first development - from cross-platform mobile development tools in Visual Studio to Application Insights in Visual Studio Online.”

The HockeyApp SDKs (Software Development Kits) are open source and will remain so. The acquisition will not affect existing HockeyApp users according to Somasegar, and the service will remain open to new and existing customers.

Microsoft says that they’re going to introduce new iOS and Android SDKs for Application Insights based on the features of HockeyApp “in the coming months”. Application Insights can be used to show application usage, availability, and performance of application components. The intention is that by integrating HockeyApp crash reports with Application Insights, the device support will be extended to mobile platforms so you’ll be able to analyze apps across ‘all tiers of a modern “mobile first, cloud first” solution’.

The acquisition of HockeyApp is another sign of how keen Microsoft is to be seen as offering cross-platform software (as with the recent WinJS news), alongside its recent embracing of open source with .NET

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