FT turns mobiles pink

The Financial Times is breaking into the mobile phone market with a strategic alliance with the Carphone Warehouse.

The FT Mobile venture will piggy back on BT Cellnet's network and will launch at the beginning of May with FT-branded WAP mobile phones containing business and financial content. Stephen Hill, CEO of the FT Group, did not confirm branding will mean the mobiles will be pink like its newspaper but said: "It is a good example of how we can leverage our investment in our digital platform, FT.com, and takes us a step further in realising our strategy of making FT content available anytime, anywhere." Hill added personalised content called FT Mobile Gold would be an exclusive part of the package, normally costing £10 a month for other users. This includes access to breaking news, and real time share prices. The announcement followed the release of FT owners, Pearson's end of year results, which were down 17 per cent in pre-tax profit compared to the previous year. Pearson blamed the £200m it spent last year investing in internet ventures such as FT.com.