Poll: Would You Pay for an API?

Every week on ReadWriteMobile, we ask the community here a question related to mobile apps, mobile platforms, or development. You can see a round-up of some of the more popular recent poll Q&A’s here.

This week, we thought we would focus on the topic of APIs. If you’re building a mobile app, are you willing to pay to use an API? How do you decide? Let us know what you think in this week’s ReadWriteMobile poll.

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This topic was at the forefront of many developers minds’ over the past couple of weeks, especially after Google unceremoniously pulled its Google Translate API, citing “abuse.” The API was one of several that were going to be eliminated as a part of “spring cleaning” at Google.

Even after developer outcry, Google stood by its decision, saying:

“Deprecating the Translate API was the hardest choice for us to make — we’re excited about the global web, and about helping developers and webmasters anywhere reach audiences everywhere,” Feldman said last week. “We continue to invest in our Translate offerings, including the Google Translate web element. But the Translate API was subject to extensive abuse — the vast majority of usage was in clear violation of our terms. The painful part of turning off this API is that we recognize it affects some legitimate usage as well, and we’re sorry about that.”

Finally, in early June, Google said it would develop a paid version of the API instead. Full details have not yet been released on when that version will launch. Soon, though, developers will have a choice to make: implement the new paid version when it arrives, or switch to a free alternative, like Bing’s?

But this is only one example where going the free vs. paid route has to be considered. In the meantime, let us know in the poll if you would pay for an API (any API, not just Google’s.) And feel free to comment below to tell us more about that decision. To keep things simple, this poll is Yes/No only.

Image Credit: SMS4PC

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