eBay Unveils Major Platform Extensions

June 11, 2007; 10:42 AM
Today at the eBay Developers Conference in Boston, eBay Inc. (Nasdaq:EBAY) (www.ebay.com) released a series of new services and platform enhancements to help developers, affiliates and entrepreneurs extend eBay content anywhere that people are connected.

eBay’s platform extension gives its growing community of 50,000 third-party developers an environment to build and monetize innovative new applications and put them anywhere, from phones and televisions to personal blogs, Web sites and social networking platforms. eBay’s community of developers and entrepreneurs can use the tools and resources to create new experiences -- for buyers and sellers -- by integrating the eBay Marketplace with more third-party Web sites, platforms and devices.

The new services include:

• eBay Shopping Web Services: a suite of faster, more responsive APIs that makes searching on eBay up to 16 times faster and allows developers to easily create buying applications
• eBay Bidding API: qualified developers can enable bidding on eBay from anywhere
• eBay Client Alerts: lightweight, near real-time alerts about platform activity
• New JavaScript and Flash Developer Centers: making it easier for JavaScript and Flash developers to access the eBay Web Services platform
• New Production Call Plan: access to API calls in the production environment raised from 10,000 per month to 150,000 per month, allowing new developers to rapidly scale up their applications

Since its introduction in 2000, eBay Developers Program members have created 4,800 live applications that improve the experience of eBay’s community of buyers and sellers. These developer applications now account for approximately a quarter of eBay’s listings. The APIs released today are designed to make it easier to build solutions that give people ways to experience eBay without necessarily having to visit eBay.com.

“eBay’s developer community plays an important role as we pursue our mission to help people all over the world connect through commerce,” said John Donahoe, president of eBay Marketplaces. “The innovative applications being created by developers help entrepreneurial sellers use our platforms to grow their businesses, thereby expanding the economic opportunity to a wider audience than ever possible.”

Today’s announcements also mark a significant opportunity for developers to monetize their applications, according to Max Mancini, eBay’s senior director of Disruptive Innovation and Platform Strategy.

“In making eBay’s platform more accessible, we are creating a whole new audience of buyers for affiliates and developers,” said Mancini. “This represents an enormous opportunity for them to create and monetize applications that can be used by eBay’s 233 million members. Specifically, our set of new APIs meets the demands of developers building buying applications using client-side platforms, such as JavaScript and Flash.”

In addition to today’s announcement, eBay is working to extend its platform via internal innovations including the recent beta release of the eBay To Go widget, as well as the development of San Dimas, a rich connected desktop application running on the new Adobe Apollo platform.

The eBay Developers Program enables third-party developers to gain access to the eBay Marketplace through Web services to create a wide variety of solutions that meet the diverse needs of buyers and sellers on eBay. It offers a standards-based, easy-to-use development platform that makes integrating with eBay seamless, and provides developers with the ideal environment to test new ideas and create valuable commercial solutions.

Developers are tapping into the eBay community with tools and services including customized search interfaces, selling and buying tools, wireless applications, interactive television applications, and affiliate tools to drive buyers to eBay.

More than 500 third-party developers, entrepreneurs and affiliates are gathered this week at the Sixth Annual eBay Developers Conference to meet with technologists and business leaders from eBay, PayPal, ProStores, Shopping.com and Skype to build connections between the thinkers, architects, and entrepreneurs who are shaping the development of the Internet.

Other eBay Inc. companies also made announcements today that extend their platforms to a broader universe of users on and off the Web. A summary of news includes:

• PayPal introduced a new suite of APIs, including Mobile Checkout, which allows developers to integrate any mobile website with the PayPal checkout process. The company also introduced a new Name-Value Pair API that allows developers to integrate PayPal more easily and quickly into Web sites and applications, enhancing online commerce experiences and making PayPal more accessible to Web users everywhere. In addition, PayPal launched the PayPal Certified Developer Program, allowing developers to become certified PayPal integrators.
• Skype is calling on developers to sign up and join the excitement of the Skype Developer Program, which offers the opportunity to earn cash through Skype Extras. Skype Extras are plug-ins written by independent third-party developers that let users expand Skype functionality and enrich their Skype conversations.
• Shopping.com announced plans for a re-architected API that will be available in Q3 2007, which will have a new easy-to-use interface, detailed documentation, and tools for faster implementations. Like the current API, it will be fully open, and robust and flexible, allowing developers and partners to realize new revenue streams and improve the buyer experience by recreating a portion of Shopping.com’s comparison shopping experience within their own sites.
• ProStores, an eBay company that enables small- and medium-sized businesses to establish full-featured, customized e-commerce sites, launched a Design Certification Program to create an opportunity for web developers to design and build full-featured ecommerce stores on the ProStores platform.

About eBay Inc.

Founded in 1995, eBay Inc. connects hundreds of millions of people around the world every day through commerce, delivering fun, engaging and trusted online experiences. We are constantly findings new ways to empower people worldwide to explore, learn, shop, share and talk with each other.

Since its inception, eBay Inc. has expanded to include some of the strongest brands in the world, including eBay, PayPal, Skype, Shopping.com, and others. eBay Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, California.