patienceisking, here is a short and simplified explanation of...

patienceisking,

here is a short and simplified explanation of what Parse is, and also, I want to add something regarding the BUD 'takeover' of it. I'm not an expert, but have some amateur experience in the field.

Parse is a program that app developers use to build the architecture that make the app talk to outside interfaces, like push notifications and an email addresses. It is these hidden interfaces that are the tricky parts of an app, and they must be correct and importantly, maintained, otherwise the app will become unstable. Because of this complexity, Parse was originally created to make this job easier.

It is my understanding that Facebook bought Parse solely to make it easier for app developers to connect to Facebook, like logging-in to your app through Facebook, which you see just about on every app and web site that requires a private log-in. Keeping apps up to date was time consuming and therefore costly for app developers and their customers, so Parse simplified this by operating within Facebook's domain. However, a key point is that Facebook never intended in being an app developer themselves, and that Parse was just a vehicle to connect developers to Facebook. I don't think it was ever meant to be a revenue raiser for Facebook directly, but only a source of bringing people to Facebook. It has achieved that and the good news is that it will continue to do so, but with Buddy being the operator.

Buddy is not doing this for nothing, so that the statement in the announcement today suggesting the high revenue return, should be considered as legitimate.

Hope this helps.