Financial Times native iPhone and iPad apps removed from the App Store

Financial newspaper now placing its faith in its web app for iOS devices.

The Financial Times' iPhone and iPad apps have finally been removed from Apple's App Store, after the two companies were unable to come to an agreement about how the FT should treat subscriptions.

At issue were Apple's new rules, which dictate that publishers cannot sell subscriptions within their apps without using Apple's own in-app payments system.

"The FT iPad and iPhone apps will no longer be available to new users through iTunes,” an FT spokesperson tells PaidContent in a statement. "We are directing readers to the FT‘s new web app available at app.ft.com.  iTunes will remain an important channel for new and existing advertising based apps."

The web app was launched in anticipation of the removal of the FT's native apps, although it is also part of a wider strategy to make the newspaper's content available quickly on new smartphones and tablets as they are launched, through the browser.

With more than 550,000 users, that web app has made a strong start.