A mere day after Apple met with lukewarm reaction to a subscription model for media apps for the iPhone and iPad, Google announced a rival approach it says will put more money in the pockets of publishers, and will work across the web and on mobile apps — a one-login system to rule them all.

Google’s One Pass system promises to let publishers set up an easy subscription and paywall system so that a user who buys a subscription via their desktop browser can access the same content on a mobile phone browser or in the publication’s apps. Readers will login via their Google account and pay via Google Checkout.

The announcement is clearly Google’s answer to Apple’s subscription offering — and as usual Google is competing by being more open than Apple.

Google is also setting up a clear choice for publishers — go with something that works for just the popular iPhone and iPad at a steep price (30% of a subscription bought through an app), or go with a system that works for the web and apps, regardless of what device a reader is using, at a much lower price (somewhere in the range of 10%, according to a company spokeswoman).

Many digital publishers see readers new found willingness to pay for mobile phone and tablet apps as a way to actually charge for content in the internet age, counteracting the decline of revenue that many traditional publications have faced in an age where readers expect and get content free on the web.

Magazine publishers immediately turned to the iPad as a way to replicate a magazine-like experience, but readers chafed at having to buy each issue individually, and not being able to get the app for free or at a discount if they subscribed to the print version. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is also betting that readers will pay $1 week for a daily newspaper, called The Daily, made specifically for the iPad.

But the one thorn in Google’s plan is Apple itself, which bans any subscription payment services other than their own for iOS apps and requires that Apple get 30% of any purchase made through an Apple app. Companies would also be banned from including a link from an Apple app to their website so that purchases can be made there, which infuriated Rhapsody, which called Apple’s 30% slice economically untenable.

However, One Pass may work inside Apple apps to let readers sign into to subscriptions they’ve bought outside of Apple’s ecosystem, much as readers can login to their Amazon account via the iPhone Kindle app to read books they’ve bought via their home computers.

A Google spokeswoman declined to elaborate on whether its system would work with Apple’s restrictions, saying only, “If an app developer’s agreement with an app store prohibits them from using a third-party payment system like One Pass, that is between the developer and the app store.”

With Google One Pass, publishers can customize how and when they charge for content while experimenting with different models to see what works best for them—offering subscriptions, metered access, “freemium” content or even single articles for sale from their websites or mobile apps. The service also lets publishers give existing print subscribers free (or discounted) access to digital content. We take care of the rest, including payments technology handled via Google Checkout.

Apple’s system works only on iOS devices, and which requires that Apple get 30% of any subscription bought via the app. Companies such as Rhapsody that currently include a link in their app to buy a subscription on the web will have to remove such links. People who subscribe to a service or publication outside an Apple app can use the related app, and companies don’t have to pay the 30% to Apple for such subscriptions.

Apple’s announcement was met with stony silence from publishers and open hostility from subscription-based services like Rhapsody. It also prompted speculation that federal regulators might take a critical view of Apple’s policy on the grounds that the company might be acting like a monopolist.

According to Google, its subscription method is far more encompassing than Apple’s. With Google Checkout, a publication could send a coupon to its current print subscribers so that they get the app and online website free. They can also use the system to try out various pay schemes, such as giving away a certain number of stories to each reader for free each month.

One Pass is launching with a number of publishers, including German publishers Axel Springer AG, Focus Online (Tomorrow Focus) and Stern.de. Others include Popular Science — which is also going with Apple’s subscription plan — and Media General. The system is currently only for publications, but Google says it can be used in the future for other types of media subscription services.

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