Can the FT Help Publishers Quit Their Apple Addiction?

The launch of the Financial Times Web-based reading app could lead other publishers to explore HTML5-based alternatives to Apple's ecosystem

By Bobbie Johnson

Ever since the iPhone and iPad arrived, publishers have spent millions building dedicated software to try to cash in on the app boom. Everyone who was anyone—from the Wall Street Journal to Wired—just had to have an app—even though the business reasons weren't that great.

Now, however, one of the biggest names in the news industry has decided it has spent enough time bowing to Steve Jobs—and thrown down the gauntlet.

The Financial Times, the newspaper beloved by the business community, has taken a direct shot at Apple (AAPL) by launching its own Web-based reading app, which it hopes can bypass the need to work with iTunes.

The app—which uses techniques offered by HTML5 to produce a rich reading experience—is available now to FT subscribers.They can simply visit app.ft.com and enjoy. And what it has done looks good, as you can see in the promo video.

Countering Apple's Newsstand

The FT isn't making any bones about why it is doing this. The timing—coming just hours after Apple announced the launch of Newsstand, the company's attempt to bring more magazine and newspaper outlets under its wing—is surely no coincidence. Publishers have long been irritated at Apple's ownership of the customer relationship, as Mathew Ingram pointed out on June 6, and the FT has been one of the most strident critics of that situation.

Indeed, on its app page, the FT admits quite clearly that it wants the HTML5 app to become a long-term replacement for its iOS equivalent—urging users to switch away from the existing platform:

"We're encouraging our readers to switch immediately to the new FT Web app, as many new features and sections will be added over the coming weeks. Make sure you don't miss out on these updates."

But even if, as it seems, the publication was acting out of anger toward Steve Jobs and his staff, breaking away from Apple is an important strategic move in the long run. Information companies are locked in a David and Goliath struggle against the technology industry, but yet they seem to capitulate at every opportunity. While the momentum is clearly with the likes of Apple and Google (the FT's parent company, Pearson (PSO), is the world's largest publisher—yet its $15.14 billion market cap is dwarfed by Apple's current value of $311.43 billion), the truth is that defending their corner may be the only way for publishers to stop being crushed completely.

It's not only about a philosophical battle, however. In fact, opting to route around the technology companies has a significant number of other real-world advantages over native apps.