
O API Marketplace, Where Art Thou? - sinzone
http://martinatsunset.com/post/5504384798/o-api-marketplace-where-art-thou
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peteforde
My personal opinion is that the authors concerns are well thought out from the
API developer perspective, but that the scenario on the seller side needs a
bit of critical reality checking. After all, we can assume that Mashape and
Mashery and the rest did not set out to create crappy API services. At the
same time, we shouldn't assume that just because Factual and InfoChimps exist
that they have a well defined business model that stands a chance of making
significant amounts of money in the long term. It's important not to confuse
motion with action.

Anyhow, my biggest problem with the idea of an iTunes for APIs or an iTunes
for data is that there's little evidence to suggest that this is the correct
metaphor for anything except small impulse consumables like music, books and
apps.

After all, nobody impulse purchases a complex API license. There's rather
profound difference between:

buying the right to query an API 10 million times for non-pornographic uses in
the USA (but not Hawaii or Alaska) that expire in March 2012 and count as
credit towards a more expensive volume license as long as the upgrade happens
by July 2011 and then building an application and launching it as a startup to
recoup your investment....

vs.

buying the new Strokes album on your iPod and going for a run.

Otherwise, we'd already see people buying cars and houses and vacations
through iTunes or something like it. I mean, hey — if you can make it work,
I'll be a customer. I just suspect that it's a thankless, low-margin sales-
centric middle man company with highly opinionated and price conscious
developers as your primary customer. No thanks!

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mikemoka
the fact that this link has been posted by Mashape's founder just makes the
whole thing even more ambiguous.

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peteforde
I don't think that there's anything strange about posting an article like
this. It's clearly not written by him, and most founders are hyper-aware of
everything written about them or their competitors.

