Google’s timing isn’t coincidental:
A simple way for publishers to manage access to digital content (Google Blog)
Google announces “Google One Pass” – “a payment system that enables publishers to set the terms for access to their digital content.”
Google doesn’t have the iPad/Phone monoculture, but it’s got reach, it’s got Android, and it’s got a better deal for media companies.
More on this shortly.
Readers who purchase from a One Pass publisher can access their content on tablets
Re Google’s “We’ve got a better way”
Moved and seconded! And Nieman Journalism Lab seems to agree:
Take that, Cupertino! Google undercuts Apple’s subscription plan with a cheaper one of its own
And I believe the subscription model has a role… though I believe it will be more limited than either Google or media publishers hope. (just a speculation… time will tell).
And that may be because… “the Internet disperses content… or more accurately disperses it and then re-concentrates it in a myriad different configurations ever more individually determined.”
Miscellaneous on Status Updates, Distributed Intelligence & New Economies
This may suggest that an opportunity for a more direct relationship between the content creator and consumer may have utility… and may even be an imperative.
And, of course, this then suggests a need for a viable micro-transaction in these areas.
For “1000 True Fans” to become a reality… the online transaction must be addressed… with the USER’S interests placed in the center.
(I’d strongly contend that ultimately this is better for the ‘group’ as well as the individual.)
Finding Roots in a Shifting Landscape: Facebook and the Future of Social Networks
The Power of Small Money & Large Numbers!
The micro-transaction is essential for scaling speech as well as for the freeing-up of other vital social energy.
Decision Technologies: Currencies and the Social Contract
P.S. I believe there are ways this could dovetail with Google’s effort! I’m in the phonebook.