Devs can sign up now for the Limited Developer Preview

May 1, 2015 02:53 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft's BUILD 2015 conference brought lots of interesting announcements. One of the most important pieces of information unveiled by Microsoft is the fact that Windows 10 devices will be able to run Android and iOS applications to some extent.

Following this announcement, many Windows Phone fans might think that this will affect the number of apps in Windows Phone Store, since developers will stop creating new software.

However, it seems that Microsoft thought that this might happen and initiated two programs for developers that will allow them to bring Android and iOS apps to Windows 10 much more easily.

We have already reported on the Project Astoria program for Android developers, so here are some details on the so-called Project Islandwood that is aimed at iOS developers.

According to Microsoft, “following the launch of Windows 10, we will release ‘Project Islandwood,’ a Universal Windows Platform Bridge toolkit that enables you to develop Windows apps using Objective-C.”

Sign up to receive access to Limited Developer Preview

Those who sign up to Project Islandwood will be able to import Xcode projects into Visual Studio, make minimal changes to their iOS/Objective-C code to build a Windows app, and build and debug their Objective-C code from Visual Studio.

In addition, Project Islandwood testers will be given a chance to take advantage of great Windows services, as well as extend their apps to take advantage of Universal Windows Platform features.

Since this new program is still a work in progress and not yet available for general public, Microsoft is only offering a limited number of spots in their developer preview.

Developers interested in being part of Project Islandwood can now sign up on the program's main webpage to get access to Microsoft's Limited Developer Preview.

The Redmond-based company has also confirmed that even if the number of spots is now limited, they will be opening additional spots in the not so distant future.