8 Facts about APIs that You Should Know

8 Facts about APIs that You Should Know

8 Facts about APIs that You Should Know

For many businesses, an effective API program is mission-critical. Its inherent value to the user and internal business processes is undeniable. The API industry growing so fast. Therefore, selling your APIs can be your new business model. In addition, they are not only a digital advantage but can also be a great source of revenue.

Things you should know about APIs

  • +25 Million Developers

    Did you know that there are over 25 million developers in the world? They have a lot of decision power and money, too.

  • 3 New Positions 

    A few years ago, these three positions didn’t exist in the job sector. These are API Engineer, API Evangelist, and API Business Development.

  • Employment 

    Today, thousands of employees work in the API market. In addition, AWS alone has 600 open positions.

  • eBay

    Who started all this? Yes, it’s eBay in 2001. Now, over 60% of all listings on the website are added via their APIs.

  • API Start-up 

    The first well-known API start-up was Twilio Cloud Communications in 2008 with pay-as-you-go pricing and volume pricing for all models. Calls are charged 1 to 2 cents, while messages are charged 3 cents.

  • Facebook API 

    Did you know that the Facebook API is for free? Yes, the website takes a cut of in-app payments such as Farmville coins.

  • API as the Product 

    API became THE product in 2006 as started by Amazon web services. Seven years later, a number of companies offered the same.

  • Revenue

    APIs’ potential is huge. Direct and indirect revenues per year could reach over 10 billion dollars.

APIs play a great role in improving your business model. They offer a whole lot of advantages for any kind of company. They are highly beneficial to developers as well, allowing them to communicate with stockholders to update agency systems. However, before you dive into your pricing page and start selling your APIs, consider these questions:

  1. Am I solving a difficult developer problem?
  2. Can I charge money for this value?
  3. Will my team be able to communicate with developers?

Make sure you can solve a difficult problem and provide enough value.  You must also have a team that can handle unique communication requirements before you jump into selling APIs. Learn more about API integration here.