Apple has officially removed The Financial Times’ app, FT Mobile, from the App Store. The removal comes after the paper refused to sign on to Apple’s subscription rules, which give Apple a 30% cut of any subscription revenues generated through the App Store. The Financial Times first raised objections to Apple’s subscription rules back in April.
In June the company decided to abandon further development of their iOS apps in favor of a web-based HTML-5 app that would enable subscribers to view The Financial Times on any iOS device — all without having to give Apple a cut of the subscription fees.
It’s been two months since apple’s subscription rules went into effect and today The Financial Times’ apps have been removed from most App Stores, though the Chinese and German editions of The Financial Times’ apps still remain in their respective stores. PaidContent calls the removal “a blow to the FT,” citing the fact that last year 10% of The Financial Time’s digital subscriptions came through the iPad. It also notes that “the publisher now will likely have to market the web version harder than ever, especially to users of the full iPad app.”
Apple gives Financial Times app the axe over lack of compliance originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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