What this means is that Google is enabling developers to extend Google Analytics in new and creative ways by providing a standardized platform for integrating analytics data with their own business data. Developers can integrate Google Analytics into their existing products and create standalone applications that they sell. Users could see snapshots of their analytics data in developer created dashboards and gadgets. And users and business owners will have opportunities to access their Google Analytics information in a variety of new ways.

In a blog post by Nick Mihailovski and the Google Analytics API Team, Mihailovski said:

"The Data Export API is easy to use and provides read-only access to all your Analytics data.  Any data that's available through the standard Analytics web interface is available through the API. The Analytics API is a Google Data API. This is the same API protocol for Google Calendar, Finance and Webmaster Tools.  If you've used any of these APIs, the Google Analytics Data Export API will look very familiar to you.