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 "We're opening our API." Four words guaranteed to get developers really excited and get instant press coverage. By allowing programmers to freely access the application programming interface for something, a whole wide world of applications and data sharing opens up when a vendor opens their API.
I don't think it's overstated to say the entire social media revolution is powered by open APIs. The openness of Facebook, Google, Salesforce, Twitter and other platforms has enabled those services to become ingrained into many creative applications.
Embedded devices have the same opportunity. The entire Android movement means many devices, not just smartphones, have access to the operating system and applications developed for it. Specifications like OpenCV allow applications for vision to be developed quickly on a variety of platforms. Vendors can also choose to open up a specific device for developers - for instance, the folks at Jawbone are in the process of opening their Up API, allowing their data to be cross pollinated with other applications.
With popularity comes a price, however. An open API is an easy target for attackers, and security issues begin to arise as use widens. Innovation begins to suffer as well, because while both the vendor and the developer community would like to do the next cool thing, breaking the API and existing applications can be a problem. Managing the change forward so everyone doesn't freak out is a delicate exercise.
Freaking out is exactly what Twitter users are doing right now.
Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Don Dingee for sharing this blog entry. You can finish reading this post here.
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Re: When the Open API Changes, Look Out
