It is fascinating to see how quickly the world of mashup development and specifically telephony related mashups has moved from a “isn’t this cool” developer tool to “this is serious business.” From our view of the world, this has changed just within the last 6 months.

October looks to be an interesting month as relates to the business of APIs.
Our involvement with the Sylantro mashup contest last week showcased applications that can add millions in bottomline value to any Telco carrier in the world. To check out a new API launched recently demonstrating these new services see Evoca.

Next week, the folks from Mashery are running a show called the Business of APIs. The agenda is filled with examples of mashups and apis that benefit the bottomline.

Without getting into details, we are having great conversations with very large companies focused on business process management solutions. Whether the project requirement is ultimately a platform or a hosted solution, the ability to blend apis and telephony to quickly solve real business challenges is a winning solution easily understood by clients.

The client conversation is not so much a technology discussion but a business process brainstorm. If you can’t quickly, right now, think of a way to improve and extend the business process of any company using voice or sms then you need another cup of coffee. It becomes a matter of identifying which solution has the quickest or best ROI because all of the projects have justifiable ROIs.

The interesting dynamic still to be played out in the marketplace relates to the question of API mindshare. We are seeing many, many great tools becoming available to developers across the world. What APIs, what brands will dominate in attracting the best and brightest of the developer community? Google Maps versus Nokia Navteq is an interesting one to watch being played out in public.

Our sense is that every industry vertical will choose the APIs that work best for them. The developers, internal business process teams, and consulting groups will form alliances to make and drive these decisions deep into industries.

Given the serious value that can be added to Enterprise clients we expect these alliances and communities to begin forming within the next 6 months.