The API requires a subscription. The API SDK was open-source licensed so that either open-source or proprietary applications could include it in their distribution so that they can consume Bloomberg data "out of the box".

An example is OpenGamma -- http://www.opengamma.com/ -- it is an open-source app that ships with the BLPAPI and if you run it on the same PC as your Bloomberg Terminal install, it will just work and pull data from the Terminal API end-point.

The incentive is for apps to support Terminals / Bloomberg data natively from the get-go and it makes it easier for these startups/smaller players/open-source apps to have a chance of selling into firms without lengthy custom development efforts to adapt other data sources.

Yes, we run one of the largest (if not largest) private financial network in the world. Something like 180+ countries, close to 1,000 core routers, etc. with proper DR (dual-homing, separate fiber, risers). It's not like we run a NOC in each customer's office. It is all standard stuff -- you concentrate in big cities and run lines to individual customers. Lines are exactly the same type of lines you'd provision for Internet access (anything from a T1 to OC-3 and beyond, metro ethernet, etc.)

You can certainly connect to us over the public Internet as well -- but you have to factor in down-time, latency, and other factors. There are big Internet outages that have happened in past years (e.g. anchors cutting cables) where we kept our customers online while the Internet was down in the entire country.

It's not really as simple as that. Just because you have data doesn't mean you have (sometimes dizzyingly complex) analytic tools to make sense of the data. An API and Excel plugin exist for people who want to do things themselves, but the Terminal app is definitely not secondary for the vast majority. You're paying for service, which includes everything as well as continued enhancement, new features and data sources, and 24/7 technical and analytic support.