Google heats up digital newsstand competition

January 04, 2011

Google heats up digital newsstand competition

As print publishers seek new ways to make money, they’re getting more interested in turning to digital newsstands for distribution. New options may be opening in that market in 2011…

Apple already sells digital editions of many major newspapers and magazines through the iTunes store, and Amazon and Barnes & Noble also sells newspaper and magazines subscriptions for users of their e-reader devices and apps.

But on Jan. 2, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google is planning to launch its own digital newsstand, targeted at smartphones and tablet computers running the Android operating system…

“The e-newsstand would include apps from media companies offering versions of their publications for smartphones or tablets running Android, say people familiar with the matter. Google hopes to launch it in part to provide a more consistent experience for consumers who want to read periodicals on Android devices, and to help publishers collect payment for their apps, these people say.”

“...Apple, meanwhile, is readying several changes in iTunes to address publishers’ frustrations with the online store, according to people familiar with the matter. Among the changes, Apple would make it easier for publishers to sell subscriptions on iTunes, in addition to single issues, with Apple keeping 30% of the tab.”

It’s uncertain when and how Google’s digital newsstand might launch—and indeed, it might never materialize. But it’s creating considerable buzz.

The CBS Business Network noted: “This isn’t about a war between Google and Apple, even if it looks that way. It’s about a market that is far more complex than the online market for music was when iTunes launched… The magazine industry comes to the marketplace with the wisdom of history—and a slew of tablets to rewrite it on. Everyone, from Barnes & Noble to Vizio and Lenovo, is launching one. So, while the iPad poses a formidable challenge to any comer, it is not the only game in town.”

This is an interesting market for news organizations to watch, and perhaps to experiment in as a premium service. However, don’t expect that a digital newsstand could be used as an absolute paywall to protect all of a news organization’s content. Free web-based publishing will probably always be necessary to attract a mass audience online, and to support much-needed shareability and search visibility.

But if digital newsstands can offer not just more convenient content delivery (you pay for it once, and it keeps coming to you), but also a superior reading experience (a la Flipboard), that might be a value-add that more readers would be willing to pay for.