Google Launches One Pass Subscription Service

Google just officially announced their new digital content subscription service called One Pass. To compete against Apple's subscription service, which has received tons of criticism for its pricing model, Google's One Pass allows publishers to control price and pricing models and "maintain direct relationships with their customers."

Once a reader purchases a subscription, they will be able to access content from PCs, laptops, tablets, and any Android powered device with a single sign-on using an e-mail and password. The length of time content will be accessible is up to the publisher and payment can be done in a number of ways (subscriptions, day passes, pay-per-article, metered views). For people who already have subscriptions, you can just move everything over to One Pass.

Payment of One Pass is through Google Checkout so it simplifies the process for publishers. That could entice publishers to jump onto One Pass much more than Apple's subscription service. Google One Pass is currently only available in the US, Canada, Spain, Germany, France, and the UK, but publishers from any country can use One Pass as long as Google Checkout is available in that country. Publishers will have to host their own content.

[Via Google Blog]