Cloud-based content storage service Box has announced the general availability of its Box v2 API that it says represents a “major step forward.” In addition to the new features it comes with, the company also saw a significant increase in its API usage.
Last April, Box began beta testing its v2 API to select customers, developers, and partners as a way to help bring them a service that was simple, elegant, and intuitive. Now available to the public, its API is RESTful, implements OAuth2 specifications that help to standardize user authentication, contains better error handling, and more documentation to help developers better use it.
To help support developers building on its platform, the company has also introduced developer accounts, which provides access to a number of enterprise features through the Box web app and the API. To commemorate this release, Box is giving away 25 GB of free space to any developer account that is created before January 18, 2013.
As this year comes to a close, Box states that it has seen an incredible rise in popularity among third-party developers. In fact, the company says that every API metric that it tracks has grown “significantly”, and that includes:
- 129% growth in third-party developers using Box
- 140% growth in the number of third-party API calls per month
- 133% growth in apps in the Box Apps Marketplace
- 200% growth in number of weekly users of third-party apps on Box
These stats definitely aren’t bad for a company that has over 140,000 businesses signed up, representing 14 million users — with 92% of all Fortune 500 companies listed. At its annual BoxWorks conference, co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie said that Box was receiving 500 million API calls each month from over 14,000 developers building apps right on its platform.
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Earlier this year, Box released its OneCloud and Box Embed products to help increase usage and encourage developers to integrate with it. When it introduced Box OneCloud, it was being billed as the “first mobile cloud for the enterprise”, being available for Android and iOS devices. It added 100 new applications this year, bringing the total to 300 rolled out for the service, with now 40% of Fortune 500 companies using it.
Box says that OneCloud helps you discover useful productivity apps that are integrated with Box to help with common business tasks like “document editing, PDF annotation, e-signature” and much more.
With Box Embed, companies have a service that integrates enterprise-focused applicationswith different systems, allowing content to be easily shared. In 2012, it partnered with Concur, Cornerstone OnDemand, DocuSign, Eloqua, FuzeBox, Jive, NetSuite, Oracle, SugarCRM, and ZenDesk to give users a central repository of information.
So what lies ahead for Box in 2013? Chris Yeh, Box’s Vice President of Platform, says the company will be focusing on continuing to improve the developer experience with better SDKs and tools. Additionally, it will be building out new platform products, including developer-focused metadata tools and finding ways to tie into workflow products to foster content moving through Box in “various business flows.”
Photo credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
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