Xamarin has been bringing .NET to iOS and Android developers for a number of years, including enabling iOS development from within Visual Studio. Microsoft, of course, has been doing the same for Windows and Windows Phone developers. Today, the two companies announced a new collaboration to make cross-platform development easier.

The joint effort includes technical work, discounted training, and reduced pricing.

On the technical front, Xamarin will now support Portable Class Libraries, enabling developers to create libraries that can be used across iOS, Android, the Windows Store, and Windows Phone. The companies also promise better integration between Xamarin and Microsoft's tools and services such as Azure Mobile Services.

On the training front, Xamarin is kicking off 30-day training courses next year, including one-on-one assistance and troubleshooting. The training will normally cost $1,995, and it starts in January next year, but MSDN subscribers who sign up before December 31st of this year will be able to do the training for free.

Finally, MSDN subscribers will be given better Xamarin trials—90 days instead of 30—and discounts on Xamarin subscriptions.

The collaboration between the two companies is a logical step for both. Xamarin is finding popularity among developers because it lets them bring their C# expertise to bear on platforms that don't natively support C#.

Partnering with Microsoft gives Xamarin better access to millions of C# developers. Partnering with Xamarin gives Microsoft better access to Xamarin's many users. These users are developing C# programs for non-Microsoft platforms: with a bit of coaxing and encouragement, they might start targeting the Microsoft platforms, too.