Google One Pass To Challenge Apple!

NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) Google launched a digital distribution service that pits it against Apple, yesterday. The 'One Pass' service offers easier subscription to content across including on Android mobile, letting the user decide when and where they access access content (and how much they will pay).

The announcement - made by outgoing CEO Eric Schmidt - comes within 24 hours of Apple's new subscription service for its iOS platform which skims a cool 30% from publishers whose wares are available on iPad and iPhone.

With Google One Pass, publishers can then customize how and when they charge for content while experimenting with different models to see what works best for them. This could mean offering subscriptions, metered access, 'freemium' content or even single articles for sale from their websites or mobile apps, said Google.

The service also lets publishers give existing print subscribers free or discounted access to digital content.

Apple's CEO Steve Jobs had earlier said of its new service that it was more interested in bringing in new subscribers, not charging publishers.

'Our philosophy is simple - when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing,' said Jobs. 'All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same - or better - offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one click right in the app.'
One Pass is currently available for publishers in the USA, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, with plans to expand to other countries in the coming months.