Its been about 9 months since Rediff anounced the launch of its application development platform. The platform mirrored the Facebook API in terms of structure and usage. Rediff also announced a grant of Rs 2.5 lakhs to application developers as part of the API launch.
9 months later, I’m yet to see any publicly launched app using the Rediff API. I tried hard to locate any apps on their website, but my search results came up empty.
An application development platform is only as good as the apps that are built on top of it. Nurtured and marketed well, it could launch a complete new category of startups (iPhone apps, Twitter apps, Facebook apps) based on the platform. Lack of apps pretty much signals the doom of the platform.
With not a single app launched publicly, is the Rediff API headed for the deadpool ?
Let them give me 2.5 lakhs, and I will figure out what apps to make
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On a serious note… Is it a signal that there is no developer love for Rediff… Or is it the beginning of the end for Rediff.
Rediff had ripped of facebook completely in terms of documentation etc. So I’m not surprised that it is dead. I had suspected so three months back
http://www.manu-j.com/blog/rediff-platform-is-dead/34/
http://www.manu-j.com/blog/2008/07/rediff-rips-off-facebook/
Pranav,
I guess the quizz and other stuffs on ishare and movie sections are apps. http://social.rediff.com/login.php and they still have thier sandbox up and running
if so, whey dont they list these apps in a separate section on the api page ? they should highlight the apps if there any.
having the dev sandbox doesnt really mean folks are building apps / using the platform..
The problem is with Rediff’s non-standard API and being a home-grown format. Their API is not standard, it is their own set of “RBML” which I assume Rediff was trying to copy Facebook’s FBML.
For any kinda of API or public facing tentacles that you give off to the public, the approach should be to use already existing and used standards so developers can simply just use it. Why learn another Rediff standard.
And yes, if you want people to do something, first do it yourself. I don’t really see Rediff using their own API to do stuffs which are worth using, seeing.
i agree. It seemed to me that rediff api was put out haphazardly.
Besides, i think they should have self developed and launched a few apps when they launched the api.
Without any sort of community involvement, the platform will not transform into a new ecosystem.
I spent about 10 mins on their API docs but still do not understand anything. Not that I am some dumb developer, but it was VERY easy to work with eBay APIs. The only reason I visit rediff is for live stock quotes.
Lets just say a lot of cats try and imitate Monalisa people still turn up to see the original one. I wish they could do something different than facebook.
Can i have some user reviews about this..i really want to try out
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