FT.com Mobile Product Review: Part 1
Jinfo Blog

By Jane Heath

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Mobile devices are increasingly used for a variety of purposes including keeping in touch with news. In fact they are now so heavily used that it is essential for news organisations to make news available in this format. information providers – as one journalist blogger put it, they need to have a 'mobile first' strategy because companies who have a 'web first' strategy are like army generals who fight the last war (http://digbig.com/5bbdjy). Though an experienced online researcher, I had not myself previously used mobile news services, and it was interesting to compare the FT’s products with similar news services. The FT has developed the following services to enable access to FT.com on mobiles:

FT Mobile Web Site
Access is from a web-enabled mobile phone or BlackBerry. This site is free, although if you want to read more than one article in 30 days you have to register. You can then view up to ten articles. For unlimited access to full text you will need to subscribe. A standard subscription gives you full access to mobile content.

FT Mobile News Reader
This product provides downloadable access for FT.com premium subscribers only, with personalised news based on tracking of the user’s interests. The FT tell me that the Mobile Newsreader is still very popular with companies – IT departments are comfortable with the security because they can control its use on their Blackberry servers. Blackberries are also increasingly popular with students for whom they are a cost-effective alternative to iPhones. The FT are thus planning to update this product.

FT app for iPhone
The rapid increase in the use of the iPhone, including in corporate environments (where executives are now using them for "taxi" updates) led the FT to develop this product.  Access is to the web site including FT news, comment and analysis, markets data and full access to FT.com stock portfolios, utilising the touchscreen user interface. Again, access is free but users must register to view 10 articles a month and will need to purchase a premium subscription for unlimited content.

Product objectives
All services are designed to enable quick and easy news updating as well as markets data and company information from the FT.com web site on the user’s preferred mobile device, and (on the iPhone and Mobile Newsreader) to allow users to keep up-to-date with their own portfolios and topics of interest, based on their personal profiles.

Audience
The products are most likely to be used for business - companies, business organisations and students studying financial and business courses. However, it is also good for general users who want to keep up with general news, and other sections (such as the arts and leisure section) are among those available on the mobile site.

Product uses
Having access via mobile means that users can access FT news stories, analysis and comment and markets data on the move, without having to lug a laptop around. When visiting a client company, for example, business users can search for the latest news on that company, instead of having to search for it before they leave the office and carry a lot of printouts with them. It is better for quick updating than for doing detailed research on companies and sectors, when you would obviously want to sit at your desk and take advantage of the more sophisticated search facilities offered by the main web site.

Partners
Wall Street on Demand built the iPhone application, while Assanka built the mobile site.

Some initial findings
The FT.com applications have a clean look, and the web site compares well with similar news services on mobile. While other services were heavy on graphics so that the site took ages to load (if I got connected at all), and some did not have good search facilities, the FT mobile site is easy to use, clearly laid out and has few graphics so that it loads relatively quickly. The new iPhone app makes good use of the iPhone’s functionality; there is sliding navigation between sub-menus and to access the full content of a story, and in the Markets section you can tap the screen on charts to specify the settings you want. As an online searcher I would not use a mobile service for serious research, but I will now probably check for news updates when I don’t have access to my computer – and the FT is likely to be my first port of call.

In Part 2 of this mini-review, I'll look into more detail at issues of product access and features.

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