One day after Apple announced a subscription billing platform for the App Store, Google unveiled One Pass, a service on which publishers can sell their content, at their own prices.
"With Google One Pass, publishers can maintain direct relationships with their customers and give readers access to digital content across websites and mobile apps," Lee Shirani, director of business product management at Google Commerce, wrote in a blog post.
Content purchased through One Pass is viewable on smartphones, tablets, and Web sites with a single sign-on for syncing between devices. Publishers can choose how and when they charge for content, and select whether they want to provide subscriptions, metered access, free content, or single articles. Existing print subscribers can also be provided with free access.
"We take care of the rest, including payments technology handled via Google Checkout," Shirani wrote.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google will take a 10 percent revenue cut from publishers; Apple is taking a 30 percent cut.
In a FAQ posted on the One Pass site, Google said it it launching the service because "Google cares a lot about helping high quality content thrive online and about the future of journalism."
Google chief Eric Schmidt unveiled One Pass at Humboldt University in Berlin today. He was joined by German publishers Axel Springer AG, Focus Online (Tomorrow Focus) and Stern.de, who will be some of the first Google One Pass partners. Other publishers already signed up include Media General, NouvelObs, Bonnier's Popular Science, Prisa and Rust Communications.
One Pass is currently open to publishers in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and the United States.