 "Google may add a News section to the Play Store")
There is always something new and exciting cooking up at Google. It has been revealed that the search giant will be releasing a subscription based access to news content on Google Play soon.
A little bit of digging on the JavaScript of the web version of Google’s Play Store by the Android Police blog showed several lines of text that mention “Google Play News” asking users to “sign in to purchase this News Edition Subscription". Most interestingly, the Play Store CSS shows that News is going to be colour-coded as bright yellow, showing that it will be a standalone section. Currently, Apps section is green and Books section is blue in colour.
Essentially, with the roll-out of the News section on Google Play, you will be able to buy subscription for single or multiple newspapers. You can even have recurring subscriptions. The code text is quite similar to that of the Magazines section of the Play Store, which makes a lot of sense since both are essentially based around subscribing to media outlets. A lot of work is still being done to work on the section as it keeps changing with the Magazines icon as a placeholder. It can be safe to assume that this feature will be up by Google I/O in mid-May.
News to be added to the list?
This feature is pretty much progressing on the lines of Apple’s Newsstand that sells out similar subscriptions. It is unclear how the pricing will work with the News section of Google Play, but it might follow the same model as the Magazines one.
Having a digitised version of Newspapers on sale within the Google Play store could be a win-win situation for both Google and the industry itself. Google stands to earn from selling these newspapers, a lucrative option just like Magazines was, while news outlets that are seeing dwindling subscriptions for physical copies will find a new lease of life on Android.
Google claimed that it had nothing to announce regarding the new News section on the Play Store, though. It might be too soon to count chickens before they’ve hatched, but it could also be a great idea if Google finally decides to roll out magazine and newspaper subscriptions in India.
Google rolled out the Books section in India late last month much to the delight of Android users in the country. The section stocks everything from bestsellers to new releases in Indian currency. The Indian audience has sadly been deprived of the Movies and Music section yet, but it is understandable since there are copyright issues to be taken into consideration.
The Magazines section too has not found its way onto devices in the sub-continent. One reason could be lack of interest of the audience in foreign publications. With the roll-out of the News section in Google Play, we can hope the search giant will tie up with local publications to bring them to Android users.
(Cover image credit: Getty Images)
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