Financial Times App Gone From Apple Store! Available As An HTML5 Web App

Financial Times App Gone From Apple iTunes Store! http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
One of the few publishers to stand up to Apple, and not give 30% Apple Tax, has met with the Apple wreath! The Financial Times App is now gone from the Apple iTunes store. Apple did the Apple tax dance and changed the steps a few times. It was originally, a 30% cut of sales for content sold within apps (and that this content had to be available for purchase at the same or a lower price outside of the app) and then backtracked on it all in June. The price differential requirement is gone from the rules but any content available for purchase within an app is still subject to Apple’s 30% Tax and developers can’t provide links within the app to external stores where content can be purchased.
We think FT, Financial Times knew the outcome ahead of time and prepared for it as we published earlier in "Financial Times Bypasses 30% Apple Tax, Publishes Own HTML5 Web App For Tablets And Smartphones!"
Well unless Apple control what you can browse and read on the web, Financial Times could still be had by anyone who reads it, an HTML5 web app, we don't, we have our WSJ. But, way to go FT! Kudos.

New FT Web App Becoming More Popular Than The Native App

FT.COM web app http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Financial Times Web App for mobile devices is becoming very popular. Even more popular than the native apps in the case of iPad and iPhone.
Guardian posted that currently the FT web App is enjoying 350000 people have access the mobile site.
"350,000 people have used the web app now, and more than half of them have bookmarked it to their homescreens, In the first week, we saw more traffic coming from the web app than from the native app, and that has been sustained: the traffic to the web app far exceeds traffic to the native app."according to Rob Grimshaw, managing director of FT.com.
FT is preparing an Android version of the app (when I visited the site there is already an app for Samsung Galaxy Tab) and Blackberry is to follow. (This is abain bad news for RIM, a financial news site is preparing the Blackberry version of the app last says a lot about RIM).
I am a fan of web apps as you are not bound by device manufactures whims and do not have to pay the mafia fees to be on App stores.

Following are some benefits of FT.com web app:

• Web browser access – No app store download needed
• Automatic enhancements – No need to visit an app store for the latest version
• Reading offline – The latest edition is automatically stored for offline access
• Speed – Improved performance on most connections
• Greater range of content – Including video on iPhone

http://apps.ft.com/ftwebapp/index.html

Financial Times Bypasses 30% Apple Tax, Publishes Own HTML5 Web App For Tablets And Smartphones!

Financial Times Bypasses 30% Apple Toll Gate http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

Looks like not everyone wants to pay Apple 30% to publish content on iTunes. We all knew it is possible to bypass iTunes and publish content but I guess either big boys are scared or ignorant.
Financial Times, FT has bypassed the norm and has launched the HTML5 Web App that works across all platforms that support HTML5, which means most of the major mobile platforms today. But Financial Times admit that the app has been optimized for iPhone and iPad, for now. But Android and Blackberry readiness is not far away. FT also mentions that it is far easier this way than making a few different Native Apps.
Despite the difficulties in developing HTML5 apps due to the technology being new and the lack of documentation and tool, industry pundits say that the app was well developed and is as good as the native app. But the difference is FT is able to drive customers to the web app by advertising and other means and be able to track the conversations. Which is impossible with the apps on Apple store.
Not having to pay Apple Tax was not mentioned but you can read it in the following statement;
“The FT Web App offers our customers flexibility and freedom of choice with access to our global journalism anytime, anywhere, with a single login or subscription. In a world of increasingly digital complexity we want to keep our service simple, easy to use and efficient to offer our customers the best possible experience of FT journalism.”
The app seems to have been well thought out and features like offline access, auto update of the app is able to access information generated, just for the tablets.
Future upgrade, "Clippings" service will allow users to read articles later, either on the mobile device or desktop PC.
Accessing content is free up to ten articles per month if one registers.
Apple's Publisher tax will kick in soon alongside the requirement that subscribers sign in through Apple store!
FT via Techcrunch