First Annual Alibris API Programming Contest Winners, Cash Prizes Announced

EMERYVILLE, Calif., July 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Alibris, a division of Monsoon Commerce, and the world's most advanced online media marketplace provider for sellers of new and used books, textbooks, music, movies, and video games, today announced the winners of its API Programming Contest, where developers were invited to write applications using the Alibris APIs.

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"Our goals for this contest were to raise awareness of our APIs, illustrate that they are highly scalable and easy to use, and demonstrate our support for the developer community," said Liz Derr, COO of Monsoon Commerce.  

The $1000 Grand Prize winner for Best Overall Application went to Textbook Exchange by Brady Emerson. Textbook Exchange is a Facebook application that makes it easy to buy and sell books with friends and compare purchase and rental prices from Alibris.

"Using the Alibris API has been extremely straightforward. It is easy to consume the API and work with the information," said Emerson, the creator of Textbook Exchange.

Robert Oschler, developer of Web2Voice for Alibris, a voice-enabled shopping portal, stated, "We have worked with a ton of web-based APIs, and the Alibris API is one of the best we've seen. It's easy to learn and compact, feature-rich without a corresponding increase in complexity, and fun to use. More importantly, the back-end servers respond quickly and reliably."

"Offering an award for Most Developer-Friendly Code shows commitment to the developer community," said Rupak Ganguly, winner of that award. "My experience with the Alibris API was just great. The API is clearly defined and the service behind the API is fast and stable in operation."

Full list of contest winners:

• Best Overall Application: Textbook Exchange by Brady Emerson
• Best Android Application: Shopping Companion for Alibris by Joe Blough
• Best Mashup Application: AffordABook by Vincent Thomas
• Most Fun Application: Web2Voice for Alibris by Robert Oschler
• Most Developer-Friendly Code: Ruby Wrapper for the Alibris API by Rupak Ganguly

About Alibris and Monsoon Commerce

Alibris is the retail division of Monsoon Commerce. Alibris.com is the premier online marketplace for independent sellers of new and used books, textbooks, music, and movies. Monsoon Commerce helps online sellers and retailers grow their sales through advanced solutions and tools. www.monsooncommerce.com

SOURCE Monsoon Commerce