By now you have probably heard that The Financial Times app is no longer for sale in the iTunes app store. The publisher pulled the app because of Apple’s new requirement that all in-app subscriptions go through the iTunes store.FT has launched a web-based app and hopes to push customers to that option but there isn’t any data on how many people are using it, while 10% of digital subs were coming from the iPad. FT says its refusal to play ball with Apple comes down to owning customer data. “(Giving away) thirty percent of subscription revenue isn’t something we celebrate, but that was secondary actually – we already pay other distributors and agents; newsagents take a cut. Central to our whole strategy and all our aspirations is to have that direct relationship with the reader, ” Financial Times CEO John Ridding told Paid Content.Ridding has a point: What is more important than knowing who your customers are? In our recent selling apps webinar, our experts talked about ways to collect email addresses from subscribers coming through the Apple store but it isn’t a comprehensive solution and you still don’t have all the customer data one would want.But distribution is key too, and pulling out from Apple is a bold move.