Google Launches Mobile Backend Starter, Cloud Backend For Android Apps

So Parse but only for android? The benefit of parse is that I could make one backend and use it for ALL of my apps (including web), and they would all have access to my data. If I used this, I would have to make a kludge (if it is even possible) to access my data for iOS and windows (because as a business I'd want to expand). It looks awesome if you plan to make a one-off app for android only, but it doesn't look like something I'd use as a startup founder or small business owner (wouldn't want to lock myself into a single environment). I like the fact that parse is getting some competition, I don't like the fact that it only works for one platform (for now anyways).

This is similar to Azure Mobile Services[0] right? I've never quite understood the appeal of mobile-backend-as-service. I've developed a few mobile apps but always wrote and hosted my own API/Server/Database for the app to communicate with. These new services seem to focus on giving your mobile app some sort of central blob storage and some push features.

I feel like these are nice 'temporary' services which eventually get completely replaced. I'm not suggesting that is bad though. But as someone who came from the business web-app world, I fail to see the value unless you're looking to avoid writing any server code.

[0] http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/mobile/

Source of paraphrasing: http://googlecloudplatform.blogspot.com/2013/06/get-your-mob...

Has it been announced if it will support iOS apps?

Will this simplify App building enough to where a novice could build it now?