Google may be readying an Apple Newsstand-like feature called Google Play News with issues and subscriptions
This article originally appeared on The Next Web
Google appears to be preparing to launch a newspaper feature called Google Play News, to complement the apps, music, books, magazines, and movies it already offers in its Android store. As first spotted by Android Police, the news content will come in “Issues” and “Subscriptions,” suggesting the feature will be similar to Apple’s Newsstand service.
The new revelation was discovered in a JavaScript file hosted on the Web version of Google Play. The text “Google Play News” is only mentioned once, but it doesn’t look to have been made by accident:To read Google Play News, you must have a supported Android phone or tablet Please sign in to get this News edition. Please sign in to purchase this News Issue. Please sign in to purchase this News Edition Subscription. Subscribing you to this news edition… You have subscribed to this news edition. It is now available on your device.Most of the text in the JavaScript file is almost identical to the Magazine section of Google Play, suggesting the two will be closely related. Google Play News is clearly still not yet ready for prime time, as Google seems to regularly swap between using terms like “News Issue” or “News Edition” to refer to a single issue and can’t decide if it should be using “News” or “news” to refer to the broader content.
Furthermore, Android Police notes, the News section will be yellow:
Google may be killing off Google Reader on July 1st and pushing onwards with Google+, but that simply means the company is done with RSS. Google is still very much supporting the news industry; Google News and other similar services aren’t going away.
More to follow.
