Google has thrown down the gauntlet to Apple with a new payment service for digital content that features a more generous revenue share for publishers than Apple’s controversial new system.
Eric Schmidt, Google chief executive, launched the One Pass service at a conference in Berlin on Wednesday. It will provide a single point of payment for content across websites and mobile applications. Initial partners are all newspaper publishers, but Google said the service could also be used for music or video content.
One Pass comes as publishers of print, music and video content are grappling with the ramifications of Apple’s new subscription plan, which requires that publishers make all content and subscriptions for Apple applications available for purchase through the apps themselves, and gives Apple 30 per cent of those revenues.