I process many press releases to feed the of API.Report beast. The primary reason I do this work each week, is to identify new APIs, being done in interesting business sectors. One common thing I see, is companies that reference their API in their press release, and when I head over to their website -- no API, or information to be found.
Ok, I only spend about 30-60 seconds looking for a link to a dedicated API area, but its pretty clear that people either haven't though making it accessible, or are holding their cards close to their chest. I'm sure there are a whole spectrum of reasons why people do this, but it just doesn't make sense for you to talk publicly about your API, while also making it so difficult to learn more--it is not very API-like.
I'm all for companies intelligently approaching how they tailor API efforts, but if its something you are showcasing as a selling point in your PR, you should also be making it easy for us analysts, bloggers, and potential customers to get additional information, without asking for help. If I can't find a dedicated API portal, and easily discover information about what an API does, I won't add it to my queue of research, and stories -- I'm sure this is the case for other tech writers.
