Now that context has been provided about what products are in the real world, it is easier to explain and appreciate what it means to treat APIs as products. API products are intangible goods (because APIs are digital goods, not physical objects) that satisfy the needs of application developers and/or owners who seek quicker access to information, functionality, and/or innovation that is deemed necessary in order to deliver a basic, expected, or augmented product.
For example, API products could meet the following requirements:
- Quick access to innovation that would otherwise be nearly impossible and/or very expensive to build from scratch. A good example is embedding a maps capability within an application. Instead of building a new maps API, it would be cheaper and quicker to just make use of the Google Maps API.
- Obtaining high-quality and up-to-date data deemed...