The Rise of API

This techcrunch article was basically a fortune teller when they predicted the rise of API back in 2016: https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/21/the-rise-of-apis/

"While getting to market more quickly at a lower cost is a huge advantage, there is an even more important advantage: Companies that focus on their core capabilities develop differentiated functionality, their “secret sauce,” at higher velocity.

....

Another advantage is third-party APIs are often flat-out better. They work better and provide more flexibility than APIs that are built internally.

....

Finally, third-party API developers have more volume and access to a larger data set that creates network effects.

These network effects can manifest themselves in everything from better pricing to superior SLA’s to using AI to mine best practices and patterns across the data..."