The FT To Reimburse Staff For iPads Or Other Tablet
The Financial Times has announced that they will give a £300 rebate to any of their 1,800 staff against the purchase of an iPad or other tablet PC.
The iPad upon its launch was hailed by many in the publishing industry as the saviour of print, and although this probably isn’t true, there are still a number of opportunities for the role of tablet PC’s in publishing.
By rebating any staff who buy an iPad, the FT are making a rather bullish statement on the potential opportunities presented by this new medium and their plans for distribution. They already has a very successful app for the iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab. So encouraging tablet reading habits in their own staff, should come as no real surprise.
FT Group CEO John Ridding sent out the following memo his staff this morning stating:
“I’m pleased to let you know that we are launching today a new initiative that will allow FT staff to claim a £300 (€350/ US$480) subsidy for the purchase of a personal iPad or tablet. This will run from today until 30th June 2011.
The FT is making this investment because digital channels and tablet devices are becoming increasingly important for us and the media industry in general…We have seen rapid growth in readership on these new devices, which support and extend our “channel neutral” strategy. Given their importance and the wave of innovation that we are seeing in applications and services, we want to encourage all our staff to be expert and experienced in using them.”
The Financial Times’ iPad app has made £1 million from ad sales since its launch in May launch, and has 40,000 users, accounting for 10 percent of new digital subscriptions.
