Are apps dead? The FT thinks so

Is this the beginning of the end for apps?

31 August 2011 10:39 GMT / By Paul Lamkin

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The Times, they are a changing. The Financial Times that is, as it's no longer available in app form through Apple's App Store after being pulled following a disagreement over bounties Apple wanted to collect from the UK newspaper.
Could the move spell the beginning of the end for apps, or will the app-loving world that we find ourselves in carry on regardless?
If you're unfamiliar with the new Cupertino T&Cs then allow us to fill you in. Apple wants to treat all in-app purchases; whether that be new weapons on a game, extra tracks for a music app or, in the FT and other publications' cases, subscription fees, in the same way. It wants its 30 per cent cut.
This has seen Amazon dropping the link to the Kindle Store from its iOS apps as well as setting up its own, outside of Apple's control, HTML5 web based app, and the Wall Street Journal ending all transactions inside iOS apps and saying: "We remain concerned that Apple’s own subscription would create a poor experience for our readers."
The Financial Times has almost 250,000 digital subscribers and, back in June, launched its own web-app in preparation for the move out of the App Store which it claims has been used by 550,000 people during its free trial period.
The concern for Apple will be that, rather than towing the official Infinite Loop line, big organisations like Amazon and the FT, as well as the likes of Vudu in the States, are simply taking their apps to the browser.
Could this, therefore, be the beginning of a slow death for native OS apps? With the OS ecosystem becoming so spread, and the tablet boom looking as if it will continue at a pace, we wouldn't be at all surprised.
Via: paidcontent.org

Full tags

Mobile phone apps, iPad apps, iPhone apps, Apple, App Store, Financial Times
source:  http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/41791/financial-times-pulled-app-store