Originally published at: http://www.sitepoint.com/business-sense-apis/
API stands for ‘Application Programming Interface’ and as the name implies, creating one is a technical process. This article will talk very little about how to create an API as there are a myriad of methods to undertake that. This article aims to focus on the business side of APIs and supply advice for non-technical folk.
An API is a set of functionality and instructions to allow other software access to services or information you offer. An API is typically (should be) written following standard patterns and can be free or monetized in several ways.
Who has them?
Lets start with some examples to better illustrate what an API is and how they are used.
Most Online Services of any worth
These examples are obvious ones, but worth starting with to clarify the concept. APIs are part of the core business of companies such as Google, SalesForce, Yelp and Twitter. All of these companies provide access to the information they posses through APIs that are widely used by other businesses and their developers in a variety of applications. All of these companies offer varying payment levels depending on the quality or quantity of access you require, from free upwards.
Government, Civic and Science organizations
These are not conventional businesses but this sector has seen such a recent growth in API adoption it seemed worthy of mention. Governments across the world, from local to federal have started releasing certain data sets to the public through APIs. There is mixed opinion on how effective and useful some of these data sets have been, but it is a brave first step and some have resulted in incredible insights and applications.
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