Just recently I launched http://dnsimple.com/ since I was fed up with GoDaddy and decided that I never wanted to use them again in my life, and I knew others felt the same way. DNSimple has an easy to use web interface, a REST API for domain registration and DNS management and an iPhone app. The service is pretty new but the response so far has been positive.
Under the hood I used enom for domain registration and PowerDNS for the DNS portion. enom has the best API of all of the registrar APIs I looked at. To be a reseller there is a bit of an investment, but it's still significantly less expensive than becoming an accredited registrar.
I've been in the domain industry since 1999 when .com was deregulated, and built one of the first domain registrars (but I wasn't the founder thus left when the founder decided to go other directions) and it is unfortunate how little inovation has occurred in the domain industry. Hopefully that'll start changing soon.
Under the hood I used enom for domain registration and PowerDNS for the DNS portion. enom has the best API of all of the registrar APIs I looked at. To be a reseller there is a bit of an investment, but it's still significantly less expensive than becoming an accredited registrar.
I've been in the domain industry since 1999 when .com was deregulated, and built one of the first domain registrars (but I wasn't the founder thus left when the founder decided to go other directions) and it is unfortunate how little inovation has occurred in the domain industry. Hopefully that'll start changing soon.