Google plans its own one-click payment system for online news

Google is reportedly planning to launch its own one-click payment system for access to online news content.

A report in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica suggests that Google has been in contact with publishers about the possibility of them signing up to a new system called Newspass.

The report claims that Newspass will allow users to access a range of sites from participating news publishers with a single log-in via the Google system, which is thought to be similar to the proposal the search giant made to the Newspaper Association of America last year.

Newspass will work by acting as a checkout platform for a group of publishers.  Users will see a paywall icon next to searched-for news content, and will then have to option to purchase the right to access  the content directly through Google, rather than having to commit to individual publishers or remember various log-in details.

However, it is understood that publishers will have the opportunity to stipulate what types of payments they will accept, including both subscriptions and micropayments, when they sign-up to become and part of Google’s Newspass.

Google wouldn’t confirm the plans, although admitted that it has been talking to publishers to “figure out ways we can work together, including whether we can help them with technology to power any subscription services they may be thinking of building”.