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I was tracking with the article until this except. >>”But unlike Stripe, Twilio, and Postmates, the supply of an API-as-a-marketplace is not necessarily a comm

I was tracking with the article until this except. >>”But unlike Stripe, Twilio, and Postmates, the supply of an API-as-a-marketplace is not necessarily a commodity. That is, should they choose to, developers and businesses (or even their end users) can pick their suppliers based on whatever requirements they have. ” I’m confused. Isn’t the definition of being able to swap out one vendor for another and receive the same service back in return ... the exact definition of a “commodity”? And is he suggesting that these other API company’s (stripe, twilio,postmates) are NOTa commodify?

bwertz 6y ago
I think you're saying the same thing. Stripe, Twillio, etc. provide access to commodities. The "API as a marketplace" concept postulates that there are situations in which the supply is differentiated and you care about with which supplier you get connected.
- siphor 6y ago
  Isn’t postmates, or like uber eats an example of that though... you care where you’re getting your food.
  - derefr 6y ago
    Unlike restaurant delivery, grocery delivery services are right now operating mostly on non-exclusive contracts with the upstream chains (because the chains are big and have a lot of negotiating power; and because the chains have a real need to partner with different delivery services in different markets, because no delivery service exists everywhere the chains are yet.) There's no real market for delivery from mom-n-pop produce markets, and so there's nobody for grocery delivery services to bully into accepting an exclusive contract with them. If you can get the same groceries from the same store no matter which portal you order through, then the portal itself is a commodity.
  - akingyens 6y ago
    On the Postmates App, yes, you definitely care about where you're getting your food. The marketplace here is between eater (buyer) and restaurant (supplier). However, if you are a business that wants to offer delivery directly and don't want to create your own delivery network, you would use Postmates API. In this case, the business (buyer) doesn't care about each individual supplier (i.e. the fleet is a commodity).

bwertz 6y ago

I think you're saying the same thing. Stripe, Twillio, etc. provide access to commodities. The "API as a marketplace" concept postulates that there are situations in which the supply is differentiated and you care about with which supplier you get connected.

siphor 6y ago
Isn’t postmates, or like uber eats an example of that though... you care where you’re getting your food.
- derefr 6y ago
  Unlike restaurant delivery, grocery delivery services are right now operating mostly on non-exclusive contracts with the upstream chains (because the chains are big and have a lot of negotiating power; and because the chains have a real need to partner with different delivery services in different markets, because no delivery service exists everywhere the chains are yet.) There's no real market for delivery from mom-n-pop produce markets, and so there's nobody for grocery delivery services to bully into accepting an exclusive contract with them. If you can get the same groceries from the same store no matter which portal you order through, then the portal itself is a commodity.
- akingyens 6y ago
  On the Postmates App, yes, you definitely care about where you're getting your food. The marketplace here is between eater (buyer) and restaurant (supplier). However, if you are a business that wants to offer delivery directly and don't want to create your own delivery network, you would use Postmates API. In this case, the business (buyer) doesn't care about each individual supplier (i.e. the fleet is a commodity).