How Apple's Bigger Revenue Bite Helps Google

Newspaper and magazine executives will be the first to tell you they were late to the internet table -- and that they're still playing catch-up, tinkering with paywalls and sponsored content.

But then Apple built the iPad. A lean-back way (sorta like unfolding a newspaper) to read, listen and watch new content. Publishers saw this new device as a possible cash machine for them.

And then publishing tycoon Rupert Murdoch (figuratively) stood on stage with Steve Jobs to launch the "savior application," The Daily, on the "Jesus tablet." The Daily was going to reinvent the paid-content revenue model, lifting up publishers and saving, no doubt, journalism.

And then ... just one more thing: Jobs changed the rules with a new subscription policy, scraping 30 percent off the top of all new subs that came through his ecosystem.

(The fact that The Daily, shall we say, is not hitting on all cyclinders with its content or delivery is for another time.)

The Guardian's excellent roundup of how Apple rocked the publishing world (an already unsteady boat, to be fair) also pulls in Google's One Pass product.

One Pass allows publishers to charge for their content at will, setting their own price points across all platforms. Pubs also keep 90 percent of their revenue from these subscriptions.

A flat earth just got flatter, it seems, as the Silicon Valley leviathans continue to seek market share and philosophical differences.

Google's approach is getting a later start, for sure, but it will definitely appeal to publishers' bottom lines -- as well as helping to seek Android parity with iOS.

Pubs, if they can wait it out a little longer, will probably benefit almost as much as the consumer who just wants smart, sexy and timely storytelling -- even at a reasonable price.

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