The Financial Times has pulled its iPad and iPhone apps from Apple’s App Store after losing a battle to keep control of customer data obtained through subscriptions.
Georgina Prodham of Reuters writes, “The Pearson-owned FT and Apple had been in negotiations for months but ultimately failed to reach a compromise, an FT spokesman said on Wednesday.
“Apple launched its own subscription service for magazines, newspapers, videos and music earlier this year but has won little support from major publishers.
“The iPad tablet computer, launched a year and a half ago, created a new market popular with affluent professionals and has been a major driver of new subscriptions to FT.com, which now accounts for about a quarter of the FT’s total sales.
“The FT’s digital subscriptions rose 34 percent to 230,000 in the first half of this year, with mobile devices accounting for 22 percent of FT.com traffic and more than 15 percent of new subscriptions.”
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