Seattle, WA (PRWEB) November 26, 2012

The Buddy Platform (http://buddy.com), a leading backend as a service (BaaS) provider, today launched Commerce as a Service support for Facebook web apps and iOS. For the first time, developers will be able to track, update and manage in-app purchases sold through Facebook and iOS, using a BaaS platform.

Developers of Facebook web applications typically have had to manage store inventory inside their apps. With Buddys new Facebook Commerce as a Service APIs powering an in-app store, they can now manage inventory outside of the app, and generate rich user insight via a robust analytics platform cross-referenced with purchase history. Within Buddys Developer Portal, a database of virtual goods listings, prices and item metadata are maintained, providing a means for apps to pull store inventory in real-time via these new Store APIs. This new functionality provides unprecedented flexibility to optimize inventory, offer targeted promotions and cross reference purchase history against other key data pivots such as user demographics, social engagement, geo-location and other in-app activities.

While iOS developers also benefit from these new Store APIs, Buddy now supports receipt verification for in-app purchases. Developers can pass an iOS receipt from an in-app purchase to Buddy for security authentication back to Apple. This ensures that in-app purchases are secure from breaches on the device.

Developers building Facebook and iOS apps on Buddy were looking to get much greater flexibility in their ability to support in-app purchases, said Buddy CTO, Jeff MacDuff. Since these new commerce APIs integrate with Buddys broader platform and analytics capabilities, developers now have even more data driven options for Buddy features, such as targeting push notifications based on in-app purchase history.

With the changing face of app economics, the ability to securely offer & track in-app purchases is becoming paramount to commercial publishers, said Buddy CEO, David McLauchlan. Were delighted to meet this market need with a product specifically designed for our corporate, brand and agency customers and we look forward to helping our customers better understand the drivers behind in-app purchases in their app titles.

Buddy is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the Facebook and iOS Commerce as a Service APIs. Developers can learn more, create an account and start developing at http://buddy.com. Developer accounts are free, and include 500,000 API calls per month before any payment is required.

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About Buddy Platform, Inc.

Buddy Platform, Inc. is a Seattle, Wash. based company that provides developers a fully hosted and managed toolset of web services to power the cloud-connected pieces of their apps on all operating systems including iOS, Windows Phone, Android, SmartTV, Facebook, HTML5, Windows 8 and other connected device platforms. Developers build their apps using Buddys APIs that support such scenarios as user accounts, friends & group lists, messaging & chat, geo-location services, photo albums, metadata, gaming, push notifications, commerce and crash reporting.

Buddys high fidelity analytics for publishers of connected apps are powered by the Buddy Platform. When publishers have their apps built on the Buddy Platform, they can access high fidelity, contextual analytics providing unprecedented data on the performance, usage and ROI of their applications. More information is available at http://www.buddy.com and follow Buddy on Twitter @BuddyPlatform.

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