Mountain View, Calif. – A day after Apple launched a new
subscription plan at its App Store, Google (NASD: GOOG) announced One Pass, its own service
that newspapers, magazines and other content providers can use to charge
consumers for their digital services.
The key difference between Apple’s
service and Google’s is that Apple will take a 30% cut of revenues from
publishers, while Google says that One Pass will only take 10% of revenues.
Also, while Apple is keeping control over consumers’ data in most instances —
in some cases sharing it with publishers — while Google will give publishers
control over this data.
One Pass allows publishers to offer subscriptions, metered
access, freemium content or single articles from their websites or mobile apps,
in addition to providing a way for publishers to offer print subscribers free
or discounted access to digital content.
Google is initially making One Pass
available for publishers in the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Italy and
Spain, with plans to expand in coming months.
Launch partners include Media
General, Popular Science, and Axel Springer AG.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4lg3hbg
(Google blog)
