Apple considered buying Parse before building new CloudKit feature itself

In an extensive profile of Parse co-founder and Facebook executive Ilya Sukhar, The Information reveals that Apple considered purchasing the cloud services startup before Facebook:

Mr. Sukhar, a mobile programming prodigy, had already rejected offers from Apple and Dropbox, which were more interested in the company’s four talented founders than its business, according to people who were involved in the conversations. Facebook persuaded Mr. Sukhar and his colleagues that it had much bigger plans.

Apple’s interest in Parse is interesting because of the recently announced CloudKit feature for iOS 8. CloudKit, just like Parse, allows developers to leverage pre-designed and implemented servers to control the backend of applications. This makes the development team and process quicker and simpler for building iOS applications. It’s interesting to see that Apple decided to build a Parse competitor itself rather than move forward in acquiring the company (or another player in the area). The entire profile is well worth a read and it provides an interesting perspective as to how a start-up co-founder has been integrating his company into Facebook.