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Financial Times launches iPhone app

Posted: 13/07/09 By: Laura Oliver
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The Financial Times has created a new iPhone application for its website, which will follow the site's part paid-for, part free model.

The app is free to download and will offer markets data and three articles for free per month. Registered users will be able to read up to 10 articles for free per month, while paying subscribers will have access to more items and special features. Premium subscribers will also have access to the Lex column.

The title, which relaunched its mobile website in January, has designed its service for the iPhone with the Financial Times' 'time-poor' readers in mind, Stephen Pinches, FT head of mobile told Journalism.co.uk at a preview of the launch.

Other publishers have focused on pushing out RSS feeds of content via a mobile site, but the FT looked at what benefits having an iPhone app could bring readers, he said.

The new device, for example, caches recent articles read by the use so they can continue to view them when they go offline. It also includes a currency converter - a reliable app for this did not already exist for iPhone users, Pinches said - and world map, which visualises changes in stock prices around the world.

In line with the development of its existing mobile offering, FT users will also be able to access their portfolio using the new device. Adding audio and video content to the iPhone version will be the next phase of development, he said.

The title worked with a data company to produce the service, who had never built an app for the iPhone before, explained Pinches. Designing the site was not difficult, but making complex data easily accessible was a challenge, he said.

The iPhone version of FT.com is compatible with any mobile device and replicates the recently revamped designed of the website's homepage, he added.

Siemens is the site's launch sponsor, but further advertising on the site must be carefully considered, said Pinches. "The sections are so small and iPhone users are very particular about advertising. We will look at more targeted ways later on," he said.

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