Average Number of APIs Used In A Modern App

I had someone ask me the other day if I had any numbers on how many APIs are used in a modern web or mobile applications--great question! I often refer to the growth in the number of APIs we use, but this is really just anecdotal, and not based on any real facts.

In August, as part of the lead up to @APIStrat I am spending more time reaching out to dev shops in Chicago, with the most recent talks with Bryson Pouw at Blaze Portfolio, and Dave Devitt at SYDCON. In future conversation I will make sure and ask the dev shops how many APIs they use in the average app they deliver.

If you have any data on the average number of APIs used in web or mobile apps at your agency, or know of research or stories that talk about this, please let me know. Until now, many of the numbers being reported in the API space are coming from providers, I think we need to start gathering, tracking on, and reporting on API usage from the API consumption side of the coin.