Clash of the Tech Titans: Google One Pass vs. Apple

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February 18, 2011
By the ZippyCart Shopping Cart Reviews Content Team

Just a day after Apple announced its plans of a new payment system for digital content, Google steps in and announces its own subscription service. Interestingly enough, Google’s announcement not only comes within an ear shot of Apple’s but also appeals to the publishers that Apple seems to have angered through its new plan.

Google brings to the table, Google One Pass, a way for online publishers to sell digital content on the web and through mobile applications using Google Checkout. Users of the service will be able to subscribe and manage different content using a Google One Pass account that is set up through an e-mail address and password. The added bonus is that users will be able to access their content across multiple platforms like tablets, smartphones and websites, which opens the publishers’ content to a wider audience. Google’s plan will pull further away from Apple by aiming to be more “web access, not app access ” going under the notion that people tend to pay to read the news from their computers rather from their phones.

“The overall goal is to bring publishers a simple way to charge for content they choose to charge for, and for readers to have simple access without any restrictions on which devices they use,” said Jeannie Hornung, a Google spokeswoman.

Google offers a solution that is publisher friendly. Under Apple’s plan, publishers loose out on 30 percent of any sale of digital content, like books, music and magazines exclusively within its App Store. With Google One Pass, publishers can set their own prices and terms for their digital content, and Google will only take 10 percent of the sale. The service also gives publishers free access to existing subscribers. The downside is that Google One Pass is essentially building a subscriber base from the ground up, whereas Apple already commands a larger audience through iTunes. Publishers are met with one big dilemma: go with Apple who takes 30 percent of the sale and offers a ready network of users, or go with Google One Pass who only takes 10 percent but is in the process of building up its audience?

It’s as if Google is standing on one side of the room with a treat and Apple is standing on the other side of the room with a treat and calling out to see who will the people turn to.

Publishers are left wide eyed, in the middle to make a decision, who offers the tastier treat– Google One Pass or Apple?