In praise of APIs

I've come across the term API (application programming interface) a gazillion times and never thought too much about it - it's simply how one piece of software specifies that other software should talk to it. Important, essential even, but not something to get excited about. It seems I was wrong.

I was rather surprised last week to receive an invitation to a press briefing at which Will Bosma, vice president Asia Pacific, MuleSoft promises to "discuss the rise of the API and why a company’s competitive advantage is no longer in the applications used but in the platform with which you choose to connect them."

APIs, the invitation said: "started out as simple tools designed to help share information over the Internet. Yet APIs are evolving so quickly, they'll soon know more about us than we do. APIs are the key enablers of the current mobile and web application revolutions and with more personal data being stored in cloud-based services like Facebook every day, APIs can be used to find out everything from what we like, watch and buy to what we might do with our friends later."

It went on to say: "Everyone, from energy companies and car manufacturers to insurance firms, telcos and banks, is co-opting APIs to create new services. A new breed of enterprises is emerging, which unlock data to create new services for consumers and partners through APIs. Social networks were just the beginning for APIs. As enterprises start to open up their data (over secure channels), the possibilities for automating the mundane and creating new innovations are unbounded."

No sooner had this arrived in my mailbox than in one of those weird examples of synchronicity, this came along: "Why Uber—andwhatever is coming next—is really about the rise of APIs," a blog on the Boston Globe website. It quoted Michael Skok, a general partner at North Bridge Venture Partners, saying: “The whole [Uber] app would be impossible without the cloud."

APIs, it explained "are the underlying technology used by developers to enable services such as mapping and payments over the cloud. APIs let apps communicate with other software — requesting data and providing a standard way for that data to be delivered."

Well, yes we know that, but what this means, it argued, is that APIs let tech startups "focus on what they’re really good at. Because of APIs, Uber can focus on getting drivers and users, finding the right pricing model, and expanding to new cities."

But it's not only startups that can benefit from APIs. According to ABI Research, established telcos can boost revenue significantly by paying attention to, and exploiting APIs. It has just published a report "TelcoAPI Landscape and Developers”  and says, "telecom carriers must focus their attention on securely exposing services internally and to external partners and applications. Turning network services into resources easily accessed via APIs is the future for enterprises, including telcos."

ABI Research analyst, Sabir Rafiq said: “APIs can be used to generate new sources of revenue, to drive innovation, increase competitiveness, and retain and attain new customers.”

I'll never look at APIs in quite the same way again.