With its acquisition of Parse, Facebook has gone a long way toward filling its mobile-shaped hole.
“Today we’re making it even easier to build mobile apps with Facebook Platform by announcing that we have entered into an agreement to acquire Parse, a cloud-based platform that provides scalable cross-platform services and tools for developers,” wrote Douglas Purdy, Facebook’s director of product management, on the Facebook Developer Blog.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the deal was for $85 million in a stock and cash transaction.
Parse doesn’t provide a mobile operating system per se, but it does give Facebook developers a framework that will let them more tightly integrate their apps with the Facebook platform. It will also let them create an app that works the same on other mobile platforms as it does on Facebook.
This opens up news levels of integration — and monetization — for Facebook and its business customers.
For its part, Parse was reportedly being wooed by many suitors. It chose Facebook, according to Parse CEO Ilya Sukhar, because the two companies and their missions are a good fit.
“Combining forces with a partner like Facebook makes a lot of sense,” wrote Sukhar in a blog post. “In a short amount of time, we’ve built up a core technology and a great community of developers. Bringing that to Facebook allows us to work with their incredible talent and resources to build the ideal platform for developers.”
Does Facebook’s acquisition of Parse raise the social network’s mobile profile? What more does it have to do to provide a truly valuable mobile experience — for users and for business customers?
Adapted from Google News
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