Microsoft delivers public preview of mobile real-time analytics on Azure
Microsoft has made available a public preview test build of its new mobile real-time analytics service running on Azure.
The Azure Mobile Engagement service provides users with real-time analytics to help increase app usage and create targeted ad/marketing campaigns. Data can be gathered from existing CRM, CMS and other business systems via application programming interfaces.
Here's a buzzword-bingo-worthy description of what Azure Mobile Engagement does (from Microsoft's blog post):
AR + VR
"Azure Mobile Engagement is a SaaS-delivered, data-driven user engagement platform that enables real-time fine-grain user segmentation, app user analytics, and contextually-aware smart push notifications and in-app messaging across all connected devices."
The service works with other push-notiifcation gateways, including Google's GCM, Apple's APNS or Microsoft's MPNS. Microsoft officials emphasized that the new service won't share or sell information derived from customers' data.
The Azure Mobile Engagement preview is available for download here. Pricing information for the new service is here.
Capptain was founded in 2008 under the name Ubikod. The company developed a software-as-a-service platform that is focused on mobile operators, handset makers and developers. Its service provided analytical tools and marketing services on iOS, Android, HTML5, webOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 8, Windows 8, and smart TVs, among other platforms.