Strategically, the acquisition of Parse made a lot of sense for Facebook. Their (Facebook) SDK for iOS/Android was never ideal and they never properly tapped into mobile developers ecosystem. And that is where the roots of future growth are: 1. Developers build successful apps tied into Facebook infrastructure. 2. Apps bring end users. 3... 4. Profit! No need to cough up billions to buy those user bases back after they grow into Whatsapps and Instagrams.

Historically, cloud backends are about Data. Key-Value store and all the nice APIs around it. I’d like however to draw attention to Communication here. Facebook is evidently putting some effort into its Messenger lately. I always thought the acquisition of Parse and WhatsApp and the launch of Messenger SDK is a part of same clever plan. A plan to build a universal Data + Communication platform for app developers on top of Facebook infrastructure. Makes so much sense.

From : https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Parse-shutting-down