Apple tasting a little bit rotten

Apple has seen its fair share of success over the past few years and to many has irrevocably changed the market for brands, media owners and consumers. But Apple is headed for a likely showdown over some not so subtle changes it is asking publishers and brands to comply with.From next month, Apple will begin charging publishers 30% of their app subscription and will enforce a rule that content subscribers must sign up through the iTunes App Store, rather than with publishers directly. So along with taking a fair amount of subscription revenue, Apple is looking to control the customer relationship.But some, such as the Financial Times, are not having a bar of it. On 7 June the FT launched what it called a faster and automatically updating app available directly through a web browser using HTML5 technology. The browser-based app for tablets does all the same things a true application can do, but lives entirely on the web – meaning no download needed.The launch has not impressed the folks at Apple. On a recent trip to Hong Kong, FT.com managing director Rob Grimshaw said relations with Apple had thawed and stopped short of saying the FT would remove its app from Apple’s App Store altogether. But he didn’t seem too worried if FT did.“At the end of the day it’s a business decision based on certain terms and conditions. We don’t feel comfortable with those terms and conditions, so from a hard-headed point of view we need to be pragmatic and find another way to access the marketplace. That’s just business.”The deadline for compliance with Apple’s new set of rules is 30 June and FT’s new app and its response to Apple will no doubt be closely watched.