Extending B2B Services to a mobile device
Large companies and online services like Google and Ebay all have APIs now designed to extend their services to 3rd party businesses. These services provide an integration mechanism for 3rd party developers to create business tools and extensions. The services are exposed as SOAP and/or REST style XML APIs which can be easily consumed by a Moblet. This, of course, begs the question, “Would these services be as useful if consumed by a Moblet?”
It is not immediately apparent if B2B XML services would be useful on a phone … but they are highly visible brands with XML services that anyone can get access to. Google for example provides an API for Google AdWords which they describe as:
Google’s free AdWords API service lets developers engineer computer programs that interact directly with the AdWords server. With the applications created, advertisers and third parties can more efficiently - and creatively - manage their large AdWords accounts and campaigns.
I’m considering creating a Dashboard of sorts that would allow a marketer/business user to view information on how their AdWords campaigns are performing. The main question here is of course “Is that useful information to consume on a device”?
Alternatively, EBay exposes APIs designed to allow 3rd party tools that enable power users to integrate their ERP and CRM systems directly into the EBay world. Again, how might these service be consumed on a mobile device … and would it be useful or simply an academic exercise?
