One Of Steve Jobs' First iPad Apps Could Be Going Away

The Gray Lady is embracing HTML5 technology for iPad, which could be bad news for Apple.

The New York Times has announced the availability of a Web app for iPad. The app is available exclusively to digital subscribers to NYTimes.com with tablet access, which includes the Web + Tablet and All Digital Access packages. It is also available to home delivery subscribers who link their account for digital access.

For the time being, the Web app is being called “experimental” and includes swipe-friendly navigation and works in both portrait and landscape mode.

Available at App.NYTimes.com, the new product includes:

• Trending: The Trending section lists the top 25 trending Times articles on Twitter from the past hour. This section functions in conjunction with Cascade, a proprietary data visualization tool developed by The Times Company’s Research & Development group, which monitors the sharing of content on Twitter.
• Times Wire: A continuous, reverse chronological feed of the latest articles, videos and slide shows published on NYTimes.com.
• Today’s Paper: In this reading format, users can browse the app like they would the newspaper, with sections organized under print topic headings.
• All Sections: The full breadth of Times coverage, from breaking news, to video and photography.

According to Denise Warren, senior vice president and chief advertising officer, The New York Times Media Group, and general manager,NYTimes.com:

Our subscribers have told us they are interested in trying new ways of reading The Times across a variety of platforms. We are working constantly to develop new products that distribute our content in innovative ways, and this Web-based app is just one example of that.

In a surprising oversight, the announcement makes no mention of the nativeNYTimes for iPad app. The app, then called NYTimes Editors’ Choice, was among the first that Steve Jobs demoed at the first iPad event in 2010. Jobs also showed off NYTimes.com through mobile Safari.

Steve Jobs, NYTimes.com

While there is no reason to believe that the native NYTimes app will go away, it wouldn’t be a complete surprise.

In 2011, The Financial Times pulled their apps for the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad, and replaced them with a Web-based product. By doing so, The Financial Times no longer had to give Apple their 30 percent cut of App Store revenues.

Were The New York Times to close down their Newsstand-based app, here too Apple would lose their current 30 percent.

NYTimes native iPad app – Going away?

Might the Gray Lady follow The Financial Times out of the App Store? On this, only time will tell.

For current subscribers, The NYTimes Web App can be installed via Safari on iPad by visiting App.NYTimes.com. The NYTimes for iPad and NYTimes for iPhone are both available for download.

Photo: NYTimes.com Web app