Financial Times buys company that enabled its end-run around Apple

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The Financial Times broke from the rest of the publishing pack last year when, rather than give Apple a 30 percent cut of its subscription revenue, it launched a Web app that enabled it to sell subscriptions without using iTunes. Now the FT has bought Assanka, the firm that made the app. The deal has hints of CNN’s acquisition of Zite, the personalized news reader. In both cases, companies that create content have invested in companies that build platforms, rather than simply partnering with them. In a talk last year, former New York Times digital head Martin Nisenholtz said, “Platforms win in Web 2.0.” || Related: 2011 was the year that the “freemium” model proved itself for mobile apps (Sparksheet)