# Time for Google to Step up Payments

By [Continuations](https://continuations.com) · 2011-02-16

apple, google, facebook, payments

---

Apple [app store subscription](http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/02/15appstore.html) policy is a clear case of overreaching.  I have written before about how I [don’t think the 30% take rate for Apple is justified or sustainable](http://continuations.com/post/421872372/more-thoughts-on-ebook-pricing).  Extending that pricing to an ongoing relationship is particularly problematic.  The argument – made by no less than Jobs himself – that Apple should be entitled to a 30% cut for a “[new subscriber](http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/02/15appstore.html)” seems to suggest that these subscribers simply would not exist without Apple.  While true that Apple has built a hugely innovative mobile delivery platform it is no longer the only such platform and people frequently learn about apps they want to download outside of the platform.  I am not suggesting that Apple shouldn’t take a cut.  I am simply arguing that it should be considerably less.  

This turns out to be a huge moment of opportunity for Google, if they were able to deliver on a payment solution that is easy to use and attractively priced.  Payments would be important not just in competing with Apple but also with Facebook. Facebook is taking a similarly large cut of payments made with credits and is also aggressively pushing platform developers to only use Facebook credits.  Google faces a huge uphill battle here because they don’t have a lot of consumer credit cards on file, whereas Apple has 100 million or more.  They’ll need to come up with a fairly aggressive play here.  Instead of [spending $6 billion on Groupon](http://continuations.com/post/2059456126/google-buying-groupon-is-a-flawed-idea), Google could – for instance – give people $50 credit when they link a credit card, get to 100 million credit cards and still have $1 billion left over!

UPDATE: That was quick.  Google has announced [One Pass](http://www.google.com/landing/onepass/) – now let’s see how aggressive they are about pushing it into the market.

---

*Originally published on [Continuations](https://continuations.com/time-for-google-to-step-up-payments)*