Oct 19, 2010 11:24 GMT  ·  By

Developers building applications for Intel Atom-based devices will be able to leverage .NET Framework, the CPU giant informed. A new version of the AppUp software development kit was introduced this week, allowing members of the AppUp developer program to build and sell .NET Applications tailored to Atom processors.

Furthermore, Intel has gone one step forward and also made available for download an IDE plug-in designed to integrate seamlessly with Visual Studio.

At this point in time only .NET Framework 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008, the predecessors of .NET Framework 4 and Visual Studio 2010 are supported by the new AppUp developer offerings.

“The launch of this new SDK allows the large community of .NET developers to take part in the growing app ecosystem. By integrating Intel's .NET SDK, for AppUp into their applications, developers can submit their .NET apps for distribution and sales via the AppUp Center stores,” explained Bob Duffy, Intel Atom Developer Community Manager & Social Media Strategist.

The AppUp IDE Plug-In for Visual Studio 2008 “reduces the time and effort to integrate the AppUp SDKs and build the MSI needed to submit your application to the store. The IDE Plug-in supports both the C/C++ and .NET SDK for Windows when using Visual Studio 2008,” he added.

Ahead of the addition of .NET support, the Intel AppUp developer program allowed developers to build Adobe AIR and C/C++ applications for devices powered by Atom processors.

Of course, by embracing .NET, Intel is also tapping the widest community of developers available, with the promise that support for additional runtime technologies will be added in the future.

For the time being, the AppUp store is focused on netbooks with Atom CPUs, but this aspect will also change, as the company plans to expand coverage to tablets, smartphones, TV, etc.

“Intel has also announced additional AppUp stores with Dixon electronics in Europe. Croma retail in India, Best Buy and ASUS and more to be announced early next year.

“Each store will sell netbooks with AppUp pre-installed, opening up AppUp applications to a large distribution of customers,” Duffy added.