Apple, Google and online subscriptions: Paying the internet’s pipers | The Economist
by M.G.
“GETTING consumers to cough up for electronic newspapers, magazines, videos and other content has become much easier thanks to the spread of smartphones, tablet computers and other such revolutionary gadgets.
Apple’s new subscription service for digital media, based on its iTunes platform, gives 70% of the revenue generated from sales to publishers, whereas Google’s new “One Pass” system lets them keep 90%. Apple also insists that prices publishers charge the same price (or less) for their in-app offerings as they do for those offered via other channels. Google, on the other hand, says publishers will be free to set their own prices and terms in One Pass. (Some in the publishing industry speculate that Apple’s determination to influence pricing of subscriptions outside the app store, as well as within it, could attract the attention of anti-trust watchdogs.) “
