Financial Times hopes to avoid iTunes subscription rules
Despite a few objections after Apple announced its subscription setup for iOS apps, the service is underway -- developers and publishers can sell content subscriptions through the App Store, and of course Apple gets a 30 percent cut. One publisher is still holding out: the UK's Financial Times still hopes to sell its own subscriptions on the iPad, without giving Apple its due. The publisher already has 590k subscribers on its website, and is reportedly in negotiations with Apple right now to keep all of those for itself rather than sharing any part of them with Apple.
We'll have to wish FT good luck with that as it seems unlikely that Apple would allow separate solutions into the App Store for different publications, not to mention any solutions that don't include Apple getting its cut. Plus, the more publications that do agree to Apple's terms just creates a stronger "negotiating" position for sites like Financial Times to contend with. FT may come up with some sort of deal on its own, but as far as I can tell, Apple has no reason to back down from its subscription plans.
[via electronista]
