Google mentioned in a Blog post today it had a big plan to court newspapers and magazine companies to rival Apples Newstand that they launched yesterday. Google announced that its new service will officially be called ‘One Pass’ This new platform allows publishers to sell content that consumers can view on websites as well as in specialized apps designed for smartphones and tablet PCs. Publishers can charge for content in a variety of ways, including subscriptions, or sales of single articles.
The big selling factor that Google is offering publishing companies is the fact they can keep 90% of all revenue sold under their system. Whereas Apple only lets companies keep 70% of all sales made. “Our intention is to make no money on it,” said Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt at an event in Berlin. “We want the publishers to make all the money.”
With One Pass you have to wonder what Google is doing with your credit card information and private data you use in order to purchase subscriptions and digital content. Google said it will share a customer’s name, zip code and email address with the publishers though consumers have the option not to share that information, said Google spokeswoman Jeannie Hornung. She also mentioned that Google will never share your credit card information directly with the company you have purchased from either. One Pass is also powered by Google Checkout, so there is no new payment systrem.
Google so far has a number of publishing partners roped into this new venture including; the German-based media company Axel Springer AG and U.S.-based newspaper companies Media General and Rust Communications. One Pass is currently available for publishers in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Britain and the United States.
One Pass seems like a very excellent endeavor and it seems very detailed if you are a publisher or content provider. Companies can have good management over their content, even giving it away for free.
You can check out One Pass today, although it seems to be not available 100% yet, but you can apply to submit content by visiting HERE.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
