Google unveils payment platform for online content

Google launched an online payment platform for digital newspapers and magazines, as a subscription service unveiled by Apple a day earlier came under fire for the size of the bite it takes from publishers.

Google will take a 10 per cent share of revenue from transactions handled by Google One Pass, less than the 30 per cent charged by Apple for subscriptions to applications sold through the App Store for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

The duelling online subscription services are aimed at attracting content producers to their respective mobile devices and come as struggling newspapers and magazines seek to boost revenue from the web. Google’s new payment system for online content was announced by the Mountain View, California-based company’s chief executive, Eric Schmidt, in a speech at Humboldt University in Berlin.

Google said Google One Pass “is currently intended for periodicals, such as news and magazines, but is a flexible payment system that can be used for many other types of content. Readers who purchase from a One Pass publisher can access their content on tablets, smartphones and websites using a single sign-on with an e-mail and password,” said Lee Shirani, director of business product management for Google Commerce.

Google said publishers can offer readers a variety of options including full subscriptions or even single articles for purchase. “With Google One Pass, publishers can customise how and when they charge for content while experimenting with different models to see what works best for them,” Google said.