AppleInsider Staff
Android on Wednesday received its counterpart to Apple's own iOS Newsstand in the form of Google Play Newsstand, a news and magazine subscription hub that will also arrive on iPhone and iPad in 2014.
Like Apple's Newwstand for iOS, Google Play Newsstand allows users to subscribe to magazines and other publications that are all presented in one convenient place. But Google's offering goes one step further with the inclusion of its Currents service, offering a Flipboard-like presentation of the latest news from various Web sources.
Newspapers are also included in Google Play Newsstand, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. Paid subscriptions are available, and many titles come with free 30-day trials.
In all, Google says the Play Newsstand has about 1,900 free and paid publications, which also include titles like The New Yorker, Wired, and Vanity Fair.
Google already has a dedicated Currents app for Apple's iOS platform, but a full-fledged Play Newsstand will be arriving on iOS in early 2014, the company has pledged. There, it will compete with Apple's own built-in Newsstand, which offers free and paid magazines and newspapers.
Marko Zivkovic
Wesley Hilliard
Andrew Orr
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
Amber Neely
49 Comments
Can't wait until Newsstand launches on the Appstore (yes, I'm sarcastically referring to Amazon).
Why would anyone want this on an iPad or iPhone? If I wanted a subscription I would use the iOS version already on my phone and not have to worry about Google creeping on my reading habits.
googleco couldn't even come up with a more original name? geek engineers have no imagination...
So, wait, why can’t they be sued for this? App Store and Appstore are “different” (burn the judge), but Newsstand and Newsstand aren’t.
Free stuff is fine. But they cannot compete as it is price + that 30% fee. A win win for Apple.