SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - June 30, 2010) - Mashery, the leading provider of API (Application Programming Interface) management and strategic services, today announced new API access tiers, a platform that allows publishing and media companies to provide varying levels of access to their digital assets to internal, partner and third-party developers. API access tiers create a foundation for opening up content to the public or based on established business relationships, providing a viable framework for media companies to monetize online data.
The global publishing industry is facing rapid changes to content delivery models. New devices are being launched every day that allow consumers to get more of their news on the go, and these mobile devices are achieving mainstream adoption much quicker. Just this year, the Apple iPad sold 2 million units in the first 60 days -- and Apple reports that a new iPad is sold every three seconds. Media companies need to adapt their content delivery strategies to keep up with constant innovation and early adoption. Managing a reliable, easy-to-use API portal is a cost-efficient solution that allows media companies to take advantage of application development and revenue stream opportunities from the global developer community.
The Guardian newspaper, based in the U.K., is using Mashery's new API access tiers to provide its digital assets to developers and partners through "Open Platform" -- the Guardian's API portal that includes more than 1 million archived articles, picture galleries, podcasts and videos. Partners can access and reuse the Guardian's content to reach a wider audience, engage users more deeply and produce innovative advertising campaigns. In return, the company can develop new partnerships and expand its reach and its business models through those partnerships. Mashery's API management service provides the Software as a Service (SaaS) platform necessary to cost-efficiently manage, monitor, monetize and control access to the newspaper's APIs.
"The ability to provide varying levels of access to our archives is critical in developing a distributed partner model," said Matt McAlister, head of the Guardian developer network. "We rely on Mashery's expertise to manage and monitor access rights. As a result, we are able to offer a very robust product that creates new opportunities for us and for our partners."
Deborah Schultz, partner innovation and design at the Altimeter Group, commented, "The early successes and adoption of the iPad, smart phones and other mobile readers are pushing publishers and media companies to think about how they can open up their content to partners and developers to help them expand distribution to these new devices. But access is only part of the story. Media needs to explore new monetization opportunities to leverage this expanding ecosystem."
Mashery understands that managing APIs is an ongoing process of registering and provisioning new developers while keeping an eye on performance and responding to support requests from the developer community. Any one of these tasks can be time consuming for even just a single partner. When the number of partners grows to dozens, hundreds or thousands of developers, suddenly the job of managing APIs quickly exceeds the bandwidth of most media and publishing companies. In response, Mashery provides a Web-based service that simplifies partner access, monitors API activity for stability and performance and collaborates with and supports developer communities.
"Innovations in mobile technology have fundamentally changed the basic principles of media distribution. Media companies excel at creating content, but most do not have the in-house resources or expertise to keep up with all the new business development opportunities being created through application development and new platforms," said Oren Michels, CEO, Mashery. "Instead of using resources to try to manage APIs, API access and a variety of partner relationships, publishing and media companies can now focus on what they do best: creating content. Mashery's API management and strategic services allow them to do just that and with a clear path to revenue creation."
About Mashery
Mashery's API management tools and strategic services help companies connect with customers and partners in a changing digital world by extending reach across devices, markets and the Web. Mashery leads the industry with a holistic approach for API initiatives -- from setting platform strategy and measuring business objectives to the heavy lifting of providing and managing infrastructure to facilitating relationships with our 50,000-strong network of Web and mobile application developers. Our knowledge, experience and proven strategies enable companies to focus on their core business while driving sales, building new revenue channels and realizing faster time-to-market for innovative applications. Mashery was founded in 2006 and has built an impressive list of clients that include Best Buy, Netflix, and The New York Times. For more information, visit www.mashery.com.
Contact Information:
Media Contact
Aimée Eichelberger
Borders + Gratehouse
aimee(at)bordersgratehouse.com
(415) 963-4174 x15