Hublot to Sponsor Financial Times iPad App…

Apple’s new and much heralded iPad officially launches this coming weekend (April 3).  And yes, I have a couple horlogical twists to this story.  The first is that unlike others who pre-ordered their iPad and blamed Breguet for making them do it, I decided not to be an early adopter of this new device.  According to the Financial Times, Apple has allowed only a few publishers – including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal – to work with the device and there will be just a handful of dedicated media applications for the device at its US launch this weekend. 

The Financial Times will also be one of the initial media offerings available on the new iPad.  Its iPad “app” is planned for release in Europe and the US in late April and will have the same subscription requirements as FT.com, one of the few websites to charge for news.  What caught my attention – and is my second “horlogical twist” to the article here – is that the FT iPad app will be sponsored at launch by Hublot!  Yes, Hublot “the watchmaker” (as the FT blandly describes the brand in what is at a minimum a nominee for understament of the year) will be subsidizing a two-month free access period to the FT app.  

What will their ads look like on the iPad?  Please do tell, John Biggs! 

In summary, it looks like via its sponsorship of the Financial Times, Hublot can lay claim to being the first watch brand to show itself on the Apple iPad.  Congrats to Jean-Claude Biver and team for yet again being on the cutting-edge of technology! 

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4. Hublot’s New Website…*sigh*…Falls Short