The 2008 Mashery API Christmas Wish List

December 22nd, 2008

With Christmas just a few days away, we here at Mashery have turned our thoughts from our impending tryptophan and carbohydrate induced food coma to visions of API’s dancing in our heads. This is a great time of year to look forward and make some wishes for, in the immortal words of George Carlin, more stuff.

We are working hard on our end of year review and next year planning for Mashery. These last few weeks have seen some great meetings, lessons learned exercises, and planning sessions that have produced, well, really, a Christmas wish list of sorts.

These wish list items are not all specific to Mashery. After all, we are part of a larger ecosystem and there are things we would love to see happen in APIs with technology, business, vertical, content, partners and more. We see ourselves as Santa’s elves and we want to spread the joy of the season in sharing the Mashery API Christmas Wish List. This is just one set of folks thoughts, we really hope that the community will chime in on this list and tell us where we are spot on or where we’ve had a bit too much eggnog. So, don’t be shy, this is after all a magical time, maybe your wish will be granted.

The 2008 Mashery API Christmas Wish List

  • More open content and services delivered through APIs – this one falls under the “of course” category, it’s our business model. But it’s also a movement and 2009, rotten economy and all, is the year where we expect APIs to become the de-facto standard for doing business online.
  • More openness delivered by Vertical Markets – a variant of the above, we see specific vertical markets taking the lead, and a few others quickly gaining.

    • Big Media (MTV, NYT, NPR)
    Retail (Tesco, Best Buy)
    Gaming (we will keep you guessing….)
    Music (Thumbplay, Jambase)
    Telco’s (Orange)

  • Metrics that make sense based on business goals. Metrics = Measurement. Measurement = Access to Executives. Executives Visibility = Chance to Succeed. Simple math really. Make the reports that management needs and make it so they can run the reports on their own. Provide, standardize, and report on API metrics that the business executive can use.
  • Web-type APIs for Non-Web Applications – one of our favorites. Why isn’t my television talking to my refrigerator? They should be! I’ll tell you why, because the API isn’t there yet and it needs to be. Look at what Tesco has done with their API and imagine the possibilities.
  • Presence Awareness API – “Bring the store to me, wherever I am. Allow me to buy from you wherever I am.” Use the cell phone, use my TV, use the home computer, heck use anything that has memory and an internet connection (persistent or not) to allow me to buy from you, wherever I am. If I am walking by a storefront on Main St. and see a pair of shoes I want, why can’t I buy them right there using my cell phone? Presence Awareness API’s aren’t completely baked yet. But, they are coming and it’s going to be so cool.

    • 2008 has been a great year for Mashery and for the Business of APIs. We are so very thankful to the Mashery team, our partners, our investors, the API community, the press, analyst, blogger community and you, our customers.

    We wish you all Happy Holidays and last but not least on our wish list:

    Improved economic conditions for all – enough said.

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    5 Comments »

    5 Responses to “The 2008 Mashery API Christmas Wish List”

    1. RJNo Gravatar Says:
      April 1st, 2009 at 9:36 pm

      your phone should know you’re in the hunt for a new pair of kicks…receive an offer message from the store just BEFORE you actually get within striking distance…and prompt you to look.

      now that’s a two way API on Main Street..

    2. JAYNo Gravatar Says:
      November 6th, 2009 at 2:52 pm

      Thanks for this wonderful post! I really can’t belive it’s almost Christmas.

    3. medical websitesNo Gravatar Says:
      February 10th, 2010 at 10:19 pm

      Just always be sure to check with a doctor or an expert.

    4. Defrost FreezerNo Gravatar Says:
      March 19th, 2010 at 4:51 pm

      I just found this blog in bing, looks awesome. Will have to subscribe.

    5. Piracetam BlogNo Gravatar Says:
      April 13th, 2010 at 2:18 pm

      In retrospect, the API world has been great since 2008, and we are just pulling out of that recession.

      Awareness APIs are definitely going to take off on the current and upcoming platforms. Both the iPhone OS and Android platforms are going to be running on more than just phones.

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