The Financial Times has snubbed Apple and the App Store by launching a new mobile app that runs entirely out of a Web browser.
The timely launch comes just weeks before Apple begins retaining 30 percent of all revenue made by publishers who sell an app through Apple's App Store.
Built with HTML5 technology, the FT's new mobile Web site has been optimized for iPhone and iPad form factors, although other operating systems will get a similar experience through their own browsers.
"There isn't a single feature in the native app we haven't been able to replicate in the Web app," said Rob Grimshaw, managing director of FT.com. "The developers [UK-based Assanka] did a fantastic job without the help of a manual."
The FT's new browser-based app is different from its old native app, in that users will immediately see any updates to the site instead of waiting for them to go through an extended release process. The Web app also adds the native app-like ability to save and read articles when you're offline. Furthermore, users don't have to download an actual app; the only software requirement is a mobile Web browser. Scroll down for a video introduction to the new app.
Grimshaw said the Web-based app is not intended to diss Apple, but is the more financially practical option. Not only does it allow the FT to save the cost of building unique native apps for different mobile operating systems, the FT doesn't have to comply to Apple's 30 percent requirement or any other terms and conditions.
"I think the message here is that you don't need to be in the App Store to offer a rich reading experience to your customers," Grimshaw said.
The idea began last summer, when the publisher realized it couldn't afford to develop a new app for all the emerging mobile platforms. So it began looking for alternatives.
"At the time we understand that HTML5 was a solution to this problem, but it wasn't clear at that point that you could create an app-like experience using HTML5. Sp we gave our developers a very open brief," according to Grimshaw.
When Steve Jobs first announced the publishing fee back in February, publishers and trade associations were infuriated; slowly, however, major publishers like Conde Nast and Hearst began accepting Apple's terms.
Then in May, a consortium of five leading publishers (Time, Inc., Hearst, Conde Nast, Meredith, and News Corp.) launched a digital newsstand on Android tablets called Next Issue Media, which lets users buy single digital issues rather than having to pay for an entire month's subscription, as Apple demands.