The Financial Times iPad application has gained some serious bragging rights: it recently became the first application to win "Best iPad App" during the 2010 Apple Design Awards. The New York Observer reports that the application was downloaded 150,000 times in its first three weeks. Robert Grimshaw, managing director of FT.com, expressed satisfaction with the initial numbers of the application and said that "average session lengths continue to exceed our expectations." The application, which offers 10 free articles a month before requiring the user to subscribe, provides access to all of FT.com's sections and allows for users to download articles for offline reading.

The success of the FT iPad application, like the recently reported success of Wired's iPad magazine, prophesizes a bright future for the iPad. The award notes the application's "handsome digital pages full of content curated by editors and customized by users" that are "brimming with data."

While the advent of the iPad, and its ability to deliver on the promise of journalistic "salvation", has not come without some skepticism; but the success of FT's application bodes well for the future of the device. One of many applications to report high numbers and favorable consumer reviews, the FT application is one example in a string of successes for the iPad.

Moreover, the Observer reports, the iPad app has been responsible for 20 percent of FT.com's subscriptions in the first few weeks of its availability: an impressive feat for a program that is still in its infancy. With numbers so promising, Grimshaw called winning the Apple Design Award "the icing on the cake."

Sources: New York Observer, the Guardian, PressGazette