Google reveals online micropayment system
Posted by Simon Day on September 10, 2009 at 12:38 PM
Google has proposed a system of micropayments to access news content that it hopes to put in place during the next year, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The proposal was part of a submission to the Newspaper Association of America, which had made a request from a number of technology companies for paid content models.
The proposal was part of a submission to the Newspaper Association of America, which had made a request from a number of technology companies for paid content models.
The micropayment system, posted by Nieman Journalism Online, will act as extension of the online payment system, Google Checkout, launched in 2006 to compete with eBay's PayPal system.
"While currently in the early planning stages, micropayments will be a payment vehicle available to both Google and non-Google properties within the next year," Google stated. "The idea is to allow viable payments of a penny to several dollars by aggregating purchases across merchants and over time."
The document said the Checkout application would be available for newspapers to charge for subscriptions but at this stage is "fairly rudimentary."
The search engine giant said paid content revenue could also allow Google to rely less on advertising revenue.
"While we believe that advertising will likely remain the main source of revenue for most news content, a paid model can serve as an important source of additional revenue. In addition, a successful paid content model can enhance advertising opportunities, rather than replace them," the company wrote.
Ten other submission were received by the Newspaper Association, including proposals by technology giants Microsoft, IBM and Oracle, as well as Journalism Online, a company formed to create an online paid content system.
"While currently in the early planning stages, micropayments will be a payment vehicle available to both Google and non-Google properties within the next year," Google stated. "The idea is to allow viable payments of a penny to several dollars by aggregating purchases across merchants and over time."
The document said the Checkout application would be available for newspapers to charge for subscriptions but at this stage is "fairly rudimentary."
The search engine giant said paid content revenue could also allow Google to rely less on advertising revenue.
"While we believe that advertising will likely remain the main source of revenue for most news content, a paid model can serve as an important source of additional revenue. In addition, a successful paid content model can enhance advertising opportunities, rather than replace them," the company wrote.
Ten other submission were received by the Newspaper Association, including proposals by technology giants Microsoft, IBM and Oracle, as well as Journalism Online, a company formed to create an online paid content system.
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