Google releases OnePass, a payment system for publishers

[Pewpewarrows]

Quite impeccable timing on Google's part, merely days after developers and publishers are up-in-arms over Apple's 30% cut for on-device content.

Well played Schmidt, well played.

[faramarz]

I honestly think this is something Google mashed together overnight in response to Apple's annoucement.

Look at the page. It's just an informational landing page. no breakdown of the framework, pricing or any details, and once you click the signup button, you are put on a queue for a sales rep to contact you.

I love it though. It's a great case study for startups! I think they're gauging interest with this one, simple page.. and if enough people sign-up they will actually build it over the weekend.

[geekfactor]

The payment angle is timely given Apple's recent moves, but am I correct in reading this as Google offering an officially sanctioned way to get paywalled content into the index?

In the past, publishers had to either offer First Click Free or resort to cloaking or other black-hat techniques for their for-pay content. If Google is now willing to allow paywall content into the index for a 3% fee then that's a big deal.

I can't imagine this pushing search results quality in the right direction, at least from the perspective of a typical user.

[markszcz]

Just saw an update (towards the bottom, http://bit.ly/hY8Jig) "Huffington Post reports that publishers will keep 'in the range of 90%' of revenues from One Pass -- quite a nice bump from Apple's 70% offering."

Update: CNet's explination: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20032217-1.html

[olalonde]

Well played Larry Page perhaps? ;)

[MrMatt]

Indeed - will be interesting to see how this pans out, especially as Google already supplies the iOS mapping application backend.

[pestaa]

I would also add PayPal hasn't announced their micropayments a long time ago, either.

[jonknee]

The payment side is powered by Google Checkout, so the fee structure smacks Apple around all over the place. The most expensive tier (under $3000 in monthly sales) is 2.9% + $0.30. The cheapest is 1.9% + $0.30.

[masklinn]

> The payment side is powered by Google Checkout, so the fee structure smacks Apple around all over the place.

Except for the part where as a vendor it's only available in half a dozen countries or so, and several major countries can not pay via Checkout either (does Checkout work at all from canada yet?), and where the customer service is non-existent (a Google constant).

[markszcz]

But if your charging within your Android application " the transaction fee for in-app purchases is the same as the transaction fee for application purchases (30%). " (http://developer.android.com/guide/market/billing/index.html)

[zyb09]

They need to add other payment options then CreditCards to Google Checkout. Nobody uses CreditCards in Europe and it's kinda stupid that I can't even buy Apps on the Marketplace and have see if the vendor support direct purchase form their website via PayPal or something.

[markszcz]

Android dabbler/developer here.

I like how google is empowering their developers with different pricing strategies. Before it was plain vanilla, either you pay, or its free. Yes you can pay for an app and within 15 minutes ask for a refund, but I have trouble sending in a rebate, I know i'll forgot within those 15 minutes.

With these extra payment options, and from what I understand, easy charging system, having someone drop a dollar on content with few clicks or even being able to implement coupons for your content/application will be greatly appreciated. =)

[abhigupta]

As a consumer, I don't like the fact that now I will have to keep track of different way each website will charge me money.

[modernerd]

One Pass "also offers payments in mobile apps, in instances where the mobile OS terms permit transactions to take place outside of the app market." Nice dig.

[foobarbazetc]

If you read the Android Market terms of service, you'll see that you're not allowed to use any payment processor except Google Checkout. The only exception is if Google Checkout isn't available in your country.

[jbrennan]

In the blog post they say it will be "Open". What do they mean by that? Open source? Open for everyone in the world? From what I can tell in the post, it's only available in some countries, and it's also only available with Google Checkout.

I'm not saying those are bad things, just wondering what it has to do with "Open". Unless of course Google is just continuing to use it as a buzzword.

[nudge]

Presumably it's something like 'can be used outside of a walled payment ecosystem like the app store'

[uptown]

Doesn't this name clash with the Continental Airlines frequent flyer program name?

[theBobMcCormick]

Are people really going to confuse a frequent flyer program and a payment system?

[axx]

I'm sure, if this is going to court, they will have some money in the bank to pay them.

[mise]

The signup page is linking my to a generic Google help page.

[btipling]

And there's no demonstration of how it works in the video or in any images. It's as if some people at Google decided to react to Apple's recent bad press by putting up a web page and a blog post announcing a product without actually having built anything yet.

[modernerd]

Perhaps they're trying to gauge support before rallying to actually build the thing.

[AndyJPartridge]

Try here:

http://www.google.com/landing/onepass/

Edit: Ah, same problem. Sorry.

Edit 2: It's working now, but they are only after "some partners" so I guess it's a private Beta as such at the moment.

[axx]

I get the same "error". I think the real login is coming very soon. Maybe to much server load :-)

[clscott]

It's not just in response to Apple, the timing is just fortuitous, O'Reilly's Tools of Change ( a publishing industry conference ) is on in New York this week and it was probably timed to coincide with that event.

[tomkinstinch]

I had an urge to implement something similar while ago using OpenID. Since OpenID authentication has a handshake between a content website and an identity provider, it would provide the perfect channel for handling accounting. Paying to read an article would be as simple as logging in.

It is undeniable that Google has enough gravity as an identity provider to encourage publishers to adopt such a model.

I don't really see how to get people to pay for an article sight unseen, though. Familiarity with content by known authors may be enough for some.

[alanh]

I bet it's killed or unpopular and neglected within four years.

[ck2]

This is just a micropayment system from Google? Or am I missing something?

[noodle]

i wonder if you can use this as a generic web application paid subscription solution like a merchant + recurly (for example).

[berlusconi]

I wonder if the customer service for OnePass payments will be as good as it is for Google Checkout.

I'm thinking of previous discussions such as:

Google Checkout Nightmare and the $126,000 phone call:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1432107

[masklinn]

According to jonknee above, the payment part of OnePass is powered by Checkout.

So I'd expect that to result in a "yes"

[olalonde]

Is this sarcastic? (never used Google Checkout)