Xamarin has released Mono for Android 4.0, enabling C# developers to target Android tablet devices such as Kindle Fire, Motorola Xoom and Samsung GALAXY Tab.

The release provides a plugin for Visual Studio that lets .NET developers build apps for Android tablets in a familiar environment. It also features a new, incremental build technology that reduces debugging and development cycles. Build times are 40 percent shorter while incremental deployment to devices shortens the development cycle from minutes to seconds.

It also introduces a new, simple installer which takes the pain out of setting up an Android development environment, by combining all the required components into a single, unified installation experience, as opposed to the myriad of installs required for Java-based Android development.  Xamarin has also published a set of “Getting Started” tutorials that allow developers to quickly come up to speed on Android development.

Mono for Android complements Xamarin’s existing MonoTouch platform, which allows developers to create applications for the iPhone and iPad using C# and .NET technologies.

Combined with Windows Phone 7 SDK, C# developers -- more than 6 million worldwide -- now have a unified framework and language across all three major mobile platforms: Android, iOS and Windows Phone 7.

For more information and to download Mono for Android 4.0, visit: http://android.xamarin.com/.

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