iContact have recently released the second version of their API, and along with it, we upgraded our popular email component for Joomla we call JContact.

iContact were running a contest for API applications, and we are excited to announce that we grabbed second place!

Email marketing service iContact announced the winners of their API Challenge, a contest for partners and customers of iContact that asked them to build an integration between third party applications and iContact.

The 1st place winner, who was given a cash prize of $5,000, was James Jeffrey of Mosquito Designs for his Drupal Integration. “I created the iContact module for Drupal to make it easier for users on a Drupal site to subscribe to iContact newsletters,” he explained. The Drupal application integration is also able to manage iContact accounts, client folders and contacts.

2nd place was given to Joomlashack, a team of designers, developers and technicians in the Joomla community, which came up with JContact. They received $2,000 cash. Barrie North, a user and designer of JContact explained: “We have been long-time fans of iContact. We built a component called JContact that leverages the new iContact API to integrate Joomla registration with iContact, and uses best industry opt-in practices to do so. We also gave it away for free!”

We are flattered that iContact like our email marketing component as much as we do! One key feature is that JContact will only add users to iContact lists after they have confirmed their email, thus reducing spam sign ups and increasing opt-in quality.

Grab your free copy of JContact, create a free trial at iContact and check out our JContact tutorial.