API in Simple
Terms
Amir Mohtasebi (@amirmohtasebi)

Product

Platform
CameraAPI
LocationAPIProximityAPI
BiometricAPI
NFC API

What is API?
- Application Programmable Interface
- It’s a contract between applications allowing them to talk to each other
- This contract is like English language. Everyone knows it.
- API input/output is machine readable
- The API we are talking about is mainly Web API, that is over the internet
(rather than a device like iPhone)

ANY
Weather
APP
MetService
API
GET /Weather/Wellington
(Give me current Wellington Weather)
{
Min: 8,
Max: 10,
Description: “Partly Cloudy”
}
TMJ API Example:
https://api.trademe.co.nz/v1/Categories/5000.xml

Traditional Way of Building Applications
Image Credit: CA APIAcademy

New Way: Decouple Data from UI
Image Credit: CA APIAcademy

Integration Opportunities are Everywhere
Image Credit: CA APIAcademy

Benefits:
Allows us to create new:
- Applications (Mobile Apps, etc.)
- Revenue Streams
- Businesses

Access Models
- Public
- To support someone else’s product
- Goal: Growth and Adoption (e.g. Twitter and all the third-party clients it has)
- Governance: Control over API
- Private
- To support our own product
- Goal: Reduces the cost of integration (Internal Payment Gateway)
- Governance: Control over Product
- Partner
- Built to support known products
- Can be consumed by known entities (Integration with known third-parties)
- Goal: Increase growth/reduce cost/use their resources and competitive advantage
- Governance: Control over API and relationship

Summary
- It is bringing $$ home
- API is an interface/contract between machines so it is as good as it’s
documentation
- It helps us to provide value to the community and instead foster
innovation, adoption, engagement
- API governance is important to protect our IP
- Open platform beats closed products every single time