According to the WSJ, Google is in talks with publishing houses for a “digital newsstand” Android app, for selling daily mobile newspapers and magazine subscriptions through. But what about Amazon’s Android Kindle app, which already does that?
Presumably Google wants a slice of that revenue pie itself, which is why it’s been touting itself around the offices of Time Warner Inc, Condé Nast and Hearst Corp. Promises of a smaller percentage of the sales than Apple and Amazon currently take have been made, along with detailed information on purchasers’ demographics (for marketing reasons only, security fiends).
Personally, I prefer reading newspapers online and magazines in print, if only so I can put them on a shelf or tear out pages. The mobile aisle of the newsagents’ is beginning to look very crowded though, what with News Corp’s intentions elbowing us in the back too. [WSJ]