Facebook Pulls The Plug On Parse

Of the dozens of movements that have shaped modern technology, cloud-based platforms and mobile app development can’t be counted out of that group. However, developers who rely on one of the more popular remote-hosted services out there are soon to be out of luck.

Kevin Lacker, cofounder of cloud-based mobile app development suite Parse, explained in a blog post that parent company Facebook has made the decision to shut down operations as of Jan. 28, 2017. In the weeks prior to the announcement, Parse had already gone open source with its server and is now offering a database migration tool to help its clients move to other platforms with minimal disruptions.

“We know that many of you have come to rely on Parse, and we are striving to make this transition as straightforward as possible,” Lacker explained in his blog post. “We enjoyed working with each of you, and we have deep admiration for the things you’ve built.”

While the announcement comes as a shock to Parse’s user base, it’s no less unexpected for a field of experts that watched Facebook drop $85 million to acquire the company just over two years ago, SlashGear reported. Some fellow developers are even claiming that Parse has become a victim of a growing “build-and-flip” culture in Silicon Valley. When the first signs of trouble exposed themselves in Facebook’s short two-year relationship with Parse and an easy sale started looking out of the realm of possibility, could Facebook have cut its losses and run?

More likely is the fact that Facebook was simply outstripped by competitors, like Google, IBM and Amazon, in the Web services space, Fortune reported. When it realized that Parse was not offering a more robust product than its rivals with more experience in the field, it no longer made sense to continue running a losing race.