By Chris Cook, Deputy Editor, PPI Pulp & Paper Week, RISI
"The idea is to allow viable payments of a penny to several dollars by aggregating purchases across merchants and over time," the company said.
Google's plan was contained in its response to a confidential NAA request to several technology companies, asking for proposals that would help online publishers "additionally monetize digital content, either through transactions (pay for content) and/or through collection of user data for enhanced advertising targeting or other 'access to content' programs."
A select group of NAA members who held an unpublicized meeting last May to explore ways for the news media to earn revenue from the Internet had asked for solutions that could be available within the next 6-9 months.
Ten other companies are also reported to have responded to the NAA's request, including Microsoft, IBM and Oracle.
Google's document -- first reported by the Nieman Journalism Lab and publicized this week in the New York Times -- stated that the search giant wanted "to help publishers reach bigger audiences, better engage their readers and make more money."
Its proposed system is an extension of Google Checkout, a payment system the company rolled out in 2006 and positioned as a competitor to eBay's PayPal service, the leading system for online payments.
"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 wrote. "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."
