Google takes on Apple on the subscriptions front
Don’t let anyone tell there’s no competition in Silicon Valley!Just one day after Apple unveiled its online subscription service, Google yesterday (Wed) announced One Pass, a payment system – surprise, surprise - for newspapers, magazines, and possibly more.
At first glance, One Pass looks a much better deal for publishers than Apple’s offering: Google, it is said, will take a 10 percent cut as opposed to Apple’s 30 percent.
“The system, based on Google Checkout, also offers more flexibility because it will allow for micropayments, subscriptions or metered access, even ‘freemium’ or whatever else suits the publisher’s fancy,” says the San Jose Mercury News. And the development effort and costs will be minimal.
“For readers/potential customers, the biggest advantage is that they will be able to access the content they pay for via Web browsers, or apps on their mobile phones or tablets, by using a single sign-on and password — regardless of platform,” the News opines.
In theory, even iPad users, who use a browser should be able to access and pay for a participating publisher’s content using One Pass.
Joshua Benton, of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard, says One Pass isn’t directly comparable to Apple’s subscription system, which comes with hundreds of millions of iTunes subscribers in place.
Not many people have a credit card on file with Google Checkout. But . . . “with publishers likely to get on board Google’s system more quickly and easily, Google Checkout will undoubtedly grow,” says Benton.
One Pass has a wider potential reach because of the combined Web and mobile access that isn’t just confined to Android.
Indeed, says the Mercury News, the underlying fight here is iOS vs. Android.