Report: eBay to Welcome Outside Software Applications

Frankfurt, Germany eBay Inc. on Monday unveiled plans to let outside software programs work inside the e-commerce site, according to a Reuters report.

At eBay’s annual conference for software developers in Chicago, eBay is laying out Project Echo, a plan to give independent developers a path to having their software featured within eBay's core site.

The move, which the company plans to begin testing later this year, will allow third-party software programs to work within eBay's Selling Manager, which functions as a central sales-management dashboard for 700,000 eBay sellers.

Across the Web, companies are opening up their software platforms to act as distribution hubs for outsider developers, the report said.

Facebook has attracted a vast new audience since it did this a year ago. Outside developers have built 24,000 new applications for the social network, the report said.