Want to make apps for the iPhone, but would rather stay within the .Net framework you've fallen in love with?  Yesterday, Novell finally made it possible with the release of MonoTouch 1.0, a development framework that allows you to run your .Net applications for the iPhone.

MonoTouch lets developers veer away from writing code on either Javascript or Objective-C, the two languages currently used for programming on the iPhone.  In their place, you get to work with the whole .Net or Mono suite, using Microsoft's C# and other programming languages.

According to Novell, MonoTouch supports the majority of .Net functions, with a few differences brought about by the iPhone's security model.  Both Silverlight (media delivery) and Moonlight (scripting) are not available, however.

Here's where it gets strange.  While the people invested in .Net for development will naturally use Windows, MonoTouch works strictly on Macintosh hardware (because it requires the iPhone SDK).  It's not that big a deal - just a likely dilemma for some and quite odd for the Mono Project, which has always been big on cross-platform development.

Similarly out of character, MonoTouch is a commercial product with a pretty steep price point, prodding some developers to be less than enthusiastic.  If you're interested, though, the MonoTouch is available for $399 for a one-year individual license.  Enterprise licensing costs $999, with a discounted $3,999 for five, with the same 365-day window.

[Official Site]

Source: http://www.phoneblog.com/cell-phone-news/monotouch-opens-up-the-iphone-to-net-developers/

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