Financial Times does better without the App Store

 

It looks like the decision to not play nice with Apple's App Store guidelines might not be hurting the Financial Times in the long run. In fact, according to a recent announcement from the publication, their new web app seems to be outperforming their iOS app.

 

After having their iOS app removed from the App Store for dodging Apple's new subscription policies, which force publishers to cough up 30 per cent of revenues, Financial Times launched an HTML 5 web app accessible at app.ft.com and allowed their iOS app to be removed from the App Store. This is a move that many content providers have taken, in many cases specifically to get around the App Store and still provide a quality experience to iPhone and iPad users. 

 

According to the recent report from FT's Managing Director Rob Grimshaw (via Reuters), the new app is apparently attracting more traffic than the iOS app with fifteen perfect of all FT.com's subscriptions, and 20 percent of the site's mobile page views. The publication now has above 700,000 subscribers, an increase of 95,000 from the year previous. 

 

 

This of course raises the question of whether or not certain content providers can perhaps benefit from avoiding the App Store by utilizing an HTML 5 web app. 

 

Should Apple be worried considering the upcoming Newsstand feature of iOS 5 (the same one that brought new subscription policies forcing FT out of the App Store) is already driving publishers away even before its release?