I'm happy to announce that today we've released MobileFirst 7.1!

Note - that is not official IBM MobileFirst branding. Also note - this is why I'm not in branding.

This release includes a pretty significant update to how hybrid apps are developed. You can read more about those updates here: Integrating IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation SDK in Cordova applications. You can also peruse the Getting Started docs if you've never looked at MobileFirst at all.

Evaluating MobileFirst is 100% free. You can download the developer edition here: http://www.ibm.com/mobilefirst/us/en/downloads/. It is not terribly clear where to go next on this page. Scroll down till you see this:

Along with improving support for hybrid mobile apps (and yes, that includes Ionic), MobileFirst will be available on Bluemix as well. This will make setting up the server even easier then it is now. (I'm not seeing it available right now but it should be up relatively soon.)

I gave a presentation on 7.1 yesterday and I plan on turning that content into a series of blog posts and videos... but not today. I'm flying home today so I'll be in the air for most of the day.