The Windows Live Contacts API allows people to use their Windows Live contact information (including Hotmail, Messenger, and Mobile contacts) with third party websites —while keeping complete control of their data.
The Windows Live™ Contacts API is an HTTP-based service that enables developers to programmatically submit queries to, and retrieve results from, the Windows Live Contacts Address Book database service.
In addition to a full CRUD (Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete) interface for a Windows Live user’s address book, the Windows Live Contacts API provides a view to a subset of the Contact data for the purposes of sending Invitations.
Each view and set of abilities is controlled by the owner of the data, namely the Windows Live user who maintains the address book through products and applications in Windows Live, such as Windows Live Hotmail® and Windows Live Messenger.
Value Propositions:
End User:
Website owner:
- Allow visitors to your website to invite their contacts, organically growing your reach.
- Provide a personalized experience for your website visitors, driving user engagement.
- More predictable, secure and reliable method of accessing Windows Live Contacts.
Links:
- Windows Live Contacts API SDK
- Windows Live Contacts Interactive SDK
- LiveNet .NET wrapper (from the community)
You can code against the Windows Live Contacts API with any language and platform that supports the HTTP/1.1 protocol.
Download the Windows Live Quick Applications at http://dev.live.com/quickapps. The Quick Applications provide customizable out-of-the box solutions for specific Web scenarios. Each Quick App is built on Windows Live services and is offered as a source code download for you to use today.
