[parm289]

I actually started hacking on this idea a few weeks ago. A personal API could have tons of uses. Many others have commented on the benefits of aggregation, but this could allow users to control and selectively sell/provide information to companies, apps, and advertisers. Applications could be built which utilize the personal APIs of friends. In Naveen's example, my app could compare my fitness level with my friends, recommend new restaurants based on ones my friends actually went to, track progress on goals, etc.

What I'm trying to say is that with a personal API platform, apps simply become a front end to standardized personal data. Switching costs would be reduced significantly, which would encourage a lot more innovation.

Here's a spec I've written out for my work on my own personal API. It's not done yet, and the code isn't open sourced yet, but hopefully it will inspire others to hack on the idea.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/570656/spec_public.md