FT's iPad app deemed success

John Ridding, the chief executive officer of the Financial Times, reports that the business newspaper’s iPad application has been downloaded 430,000 times.

Dan Sabbagh of The Guardian writes, “However, only a handful of those downloading the app have opted to pay £200-a-year subscription, which applies to anybody wanting to view more than 10 articles a month.

“Speaking at the Reuters Global Media Summit in London, Ridding said that the FT was growing its digital-only subscription base at a rate of about 500 a week.

“The United States, had become the FT’s biggest market in both print and online, with the iPad continuing to drive growth, Ridding said. The FT has about 189,000 digital-only subscribers, some of whom sign up as part of corporate deals where their parent company pays. Of these, about one in 10 have come through the iPad since the app was launched.

“About 30,000 people have signed up to the £200-a-year deal since April, meaning that about 3,000 will have chosen to pay via their iPad. However, the number of actual FT iPad users will be greater as anybody signing up to access news from the FT.com website also gets access to the Apple-based service too.”

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