Sprint has teamed up with LOC-AID, Neustar, OpenMarket and TechnoCom in a bid to become a one stop shop for developers accessing multiple application programming interfaces (APIs).
Sprint’s four new partners will apparently now have direct access to all of Sprint’s APIs, which is a first among carriers. What it essentially means is that approved developers will be granted access to location, messaging, presence, geofencing, payments and additional APIs all in one place, negating the need to shop around. It will also likely mean simpler and quicker app certification, as well as the increased chance of going native on Sprint devices.
This is not Sprint’s first attempt at making life easier for developers. Back in the fall, at the carrier’s tenth annual developer conference, the company unveiled the Sprint Services Framework which provides a single Web 2.0 interface for developers to access APIs directly from Sprint.
Through the Framework, developers can better test their product across most Sprint devices including mobile handsets and embedded devices, operating systems and development environments – including Web pages and applications. Now these developers will also be able to get similar access from Sprint’s latest partners, with their own range of APIs.
Kevin McGinnis, Sprint vice president of product said the deal was useful because now developers didn’t have to “to reach out to each partner separately.”
Also, he explained, “developers have a choice to work directly with Sprint or one of our partners to optimize and go to market with their application.”
