Mobile devices boosting FT’s sales

Jennifer Saba of Reuters writes that Financial Times chief executive officer John Riding said Friday that sales of the paper on iPad and other mobile applications are driving about 20 percent of its new online subscriptions.

Saba writes, “Ridding, who was speaking at an investor conference in New York on Thursday, said, ‘The rapid emergence of tablet devices is a potentially profound development for publishers.’ The FT’s iPad app had been downloaded 480,000 times, up from 430,000 downloads at the end of November.

“Pearson PLC’s FT allows people to read a set number of articles on its website each month before asking for a fee.

“Newspaper and magazine publishers are turning to the iPad and other tablet devices to help revive their business, which have been beset by declining advertising revenue and readership.”

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