This article was published on March 19, 2013

With 500M push notices sent each month, mobile backend platform Parse unveils an analytics service


With 500M push notices sent each month, mobile backend platform Parse unveils an analytics service

Application development platform Parse announced today that it is now offering push notification analytics to developers interested in monitor how effective their messaging is. It also comes as the company shared that its platform-powered apps are already sending 500 million notifications per month. With the addition of analytics, Parse aims to take on the market leaders in the push marketing space, including Urban Airship.

Parse is considered to be a ‘Mobile Backend-as-a-Service’ (MBaaS) in that it offers up the tools and services that a developer might need to produce their iOS or Android application. In the same space as Stackmob, Parse offers a range of features that can be added, including Twilio support, MailChimp integration, and more.

Push notifications are not new to Parse — it first made it available for developers to take advantage of just over a year ago. In what may seem like an attempt to create a more holistic mobile development environment, the company is bringing in an analytics feature. Through the use of its updated SDK, Parse says developers can monitor the number of times their apps have been opened in real-time as a result from their overall push strategy within a specific date range.

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Additionally, Parse says that paid accounts can compare overall app opens, push opens, and API requests from within the Parse dashboard. They can drill down into the individual app open rates for a “single push notification for a much more granular look at campaign effectiveness.” In collaboration with this launch, Parse has released its Parse Push Console that gives developers access to its advanced targeting.

The company says that it is giving up to 1 million notifications per month as part of its free plan. It is offering an additional plan for $199 per month with up to 5 million notifications and it comes with the advanced push targeting and push scheduling.

Interestingly enough, Parse doesn’t appear to be the first Mobile Backend-as-a-service to roll out push analytics. Its competitor Stackmob, which also offers push notification, has a third-party marketplace that offers developers a one-stop shop for everything from analytics to ad networks, even giving access to Urban Airship. Perhaps what makes Parse different from the rest is that it’s all from within the same company, not modular parts assembled from several different companies.

Parse has produced a video to explain its new Push Analytics feature:

Photo credit: Michael Nagle/Getty Images

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