The document discusses business models and strategies for APIs. It notes key metrics for several major APIs and their growth over time. It also provides examples of how companies invest in and partner with developers to build APIs into profitable products and platforms that generate revenue through various monetization strategies like ads, affiliate programs, and commerce APIs. The document advocates for APIs to be a company-wide priority and strategy rather than just an engineering initiative.

1. The New API
Apps
Partners
Income
Adam DuVander
@adamd
@ProgrammableWeb

2. marc falardeau

3. Ell Brown

5. WEBMASTNERD

7. Have we seen this before?

8. 96 APIs 51 APIs 34 APIs 24 APIs

9. API Billionaires
13 billion calls / day (May 2011)
10 billion calls / month (Jan 2011)
762 billion objects stored (Jan 2012)
1.6 billion API-delivered stories / month (Oct 2010)
5 billion calls / day (Apr 2010)
1.1 billion calls / month (Apr 2011)
10 billion calls / month (Dec 2011)
12 billion calls / month (May 2011)

13. A P I
Application
Programmer
Interface

14. Flickr user demibrooke

15. Apps
Partners
Income

25. 7x more internal requests
external
developers

26. 99 internal, 1 external
external
developers

28. Apps
Partners
Income

30. "Mary"
Flickr user jo-h

32. Flickr user sco

33. Flickr user sco

37. Flickr user bethcanphoto

38. SaaS or On-premises

39. White label

41. Flickr user: Tony Alter

42. "If developers haven’t launched
an app yet, the chance they’ll
launch and move the needle for
Retailigence is slim."
Jeremy Geiger, Retailigence

43. "Partner-first,
not ecosystem-first"

45. YouTube user: thisweekwithmario

46. Invest in your best apps

47. $250,000
$1,000,000
$1,000,000
$2,000,000

48. Apps
Partners
Income

49. API Business Models (2005)

50. API Business Models (2012)

51. distribution = money

52. Flickr user: f-r-a-n-k

54. Three Pillars of Local
according to CityGrid
Places Content Ads

55. Flickr user mc-pictures

56. Cost Free Per 1,000 req
Ads Yup No way

57. API as Product

58. Flickr user skipjack2000

59. Flickr user skipjack2000

65. Brokers spending
$2,000 - $4,000
Now spend $500
Competitor

66. API
Merchant
Sale
App
Affiliate Program
Pay your developers when they make you money

67. API
Merchant
Sale API
App
Merchant
Traditional Affiliate
App
Sale
Commerce APIs
Streamline the payment process, make more money

70. "The API for Lulu is not an
engineering initiative. With
Lulu, this is a company-wide
initiative. Everybody in the
company is focusing on our APIs.
We care about our API strategy."
Ryan Bloom, Lulu

71. There is no API strategy

72. Apps
Partners
Income