Microsoft is improving its Azure cloud computing platform in two key areas of interest to developers. First, it’s making it easier to deploy and manage Hadoop Clusters on Azure. Enterprises can try out the new Hadoop features by signing up for a preview of HDInsight service for Windows Azure.
Second, Azure also has better mobile development capabilities. Developers with HTML5, Windows Phone 7.5 or Cordova/PhoneGap apps can now use Azure for storage and authentication. The company had previously announced Azure support for iOS and Android.