This week, Apple announced that it would be starting a subscription based system for content on the iPad and iPhone devices. The system would act a little like the app store with Apple allowing publishers to submit content that was subscription based and them taking a cut. However, it now seems that Google has hit back at Apple just one day after they announced their subscription plan with a better deal for publishers.
Apple announced its plans for a subscription system on Tuesday of this week and yesterday, just one day after this, Google announced a similar system they are calling ‘One Pass’. The two systems are extremely similar but they have one major difference; the Google system offers a much cheaper solution for publishers. With the Apple system, Apple will actually take a 30% cut of the subscription charges that their publishers actually charge. Google hit back at Apple by only taking a 10% cut of the subscription charges with their system, meaning that the Google system offers much better value to publishers.
However, it is thought that although Apple is charging more, most publishers will favour Apple’s system as at the moment, the Apple market is much larger than that of Google and that the iPhone and iPad market is too large for publishers to miss out on. However, many large publishers have already signed up to Google’s system sparking a subscription war between to two companies.