Google One Pass: Payment System for Digital Content

For publishers all over the world, two main problems have often plagued the publishing world – how to get your content into the hands of those that want it, and how to profit from doing so. In the past, with print media the only business model that was available was a “one size fits all” type model. For example, there are people who just buy the Sunday paper just for the coupons while others are only interested in the Business, and Sports sections of the paper. For both customers, they are charged the same flat rate. Because of this, people have shied away from getting the Sunday paper because they have found other ways to get the information or resources that they want without all the extras that they do not. Magazines have a similar issue. Hopefully, this situation will soon become a thing of the past with the introduction of one of Google’s latest creations – Google One Pass.

Google One Pass is a payment system, powered by Google, that allows publishers to control how their content is accessed, and thus giving publishers the flexibility of offering various levels of content access without having to deal with various payment processors. It can be set to accept one time only payments, as well as, auto-renewal payments all from the same platform. Something else that is great about Google One Pass is that it allows users to just use one login to access the content anywhere. So the same login you used to access the content on your smart phone, you could also use to gain access through your electronic tablet, or laptop.

Another great thing about Google One Pass is its flexibility. From one easy to use interface, publishers can test out various levels of content access, and payment systems. So if you want to create a coupon that gives someone a one day pass, you can easily do that, and not have to worry about the access code giving them continuous access. Also, if you want to make it so that someone can have full access to your general content, and only be able to access other sections only if they have paid to do so, then that is possible as well, and the user can do all of this with just one login.

Google One Pass has some really great potential, and could definitely be a major game changer. Many publishers would love to better financially benefit from access to their content, but having to set up payment processors, and various access codes and logins can be time consuming, and intimidating. If Google One Pass lives up to the hype, then content creators can cater to the buying public’s various needs and wants. I am not sure if this feature is in there, but it would be nice if there was a counter to remind someone how much time they have left to access a particular piece of content. In short, Google One Pass could greatly change how membership sites, and other paid to access sites are set up in the future.