Android Police | The Next Web | Read Write
A newspaper section is coming to the Google Play store for Android-powered mobile devices, according to a report by Android Police. Google Play News would join the store's existing marketplaces for apps, magazines, books, movies and music.

The scoop is based on Android Police noticing some hints in the JavaScript code that runs the Play store, with various messages for users to purchase "issues" or "subscriptions" of news "editions."

It could become an important market for news publishers, as Android-powered tablets surpass iPads in market share. Publishers have been able to sell subscriptions within their Android apps for nearly a year now, but having a special storefront for news in the Play store could help drive readers that way.

But this news app market will face some significant hurdles. (more...)

Reynolds Journalism Institute
Although a greater percentage of people own Android smartphones, those who own Apple iPhones are the most attractive audience for news publishers, according to new research from Roger Fidler at the Reynolds Journalism Institute.

In fact, iPhone owners bested Android phone owners in every news-related category.

IPhone owners are more likely to subscribe to a local newspaper: (more...)

The class of semi-portable, two-hands-required, touch-screen devices we generically refer to as “tablets” really contains two distinct species.

There are the 10-inch screens, where the $499-and-up iPad dominates and has reigned all tablets as best-in-class.

And then there is … Read more

Android Developers | Open Signal Maps
Publishers and other app developers can now sell subscriptions with recurring payments through their Android apps. For the past year Android developers could conduct one-time transactions, such as single-issue sales, through in-app purchases. But only now can Android users authorize automatic monthly or annual payments for a subscription.

Apple has offered in-app subscriptions on iOS devices since February 2011. Just like Apple, Google will process subscription payments and take a 30 percent cut.

The change could improve the profitability of developing for Android, which has more users than iOS but has generated less sales revenue. Google says 23 of the 24 top-grossing apps in its market already use in-app billing, and the revenue from in-app purchases exceeds revenue from paid app downloads. (more...)

The New York Times | 9to5 Google
Nick Bilton reports Google will be selling eyeglasses with an embedded digital display by the end of the year. What kinds of new news products and sources will emerge to fit this new class of devices?

Bilton's sources say the Android-powered headsets will cost "around the price of current smartphones." They'll have a small screen on the side of the viewing area, wireless Internet access, and sensors like GPS, an accelerometer and a front-facing camera to "monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, surrounding buildings and friends who might be nearby." This description sounds similar to the glasses envisioned by Matt Thompson and Robin Sloan in "The Storm Collection," their vision of a future when digital information overlays every part of the real world. (more...)

Inside Guardian.co.uk Blog
The Guardian is expanding on mobile platforms, says mobile editor Subhajit Banerjee. The company has launched the Guardian and Observer Kindle edition, which wirelessly downloads the newspaper to a subscriber's e-reader each day. Mobile Web traffic is now 10 percent of total digital traffic, and the iPhone app has been downloaded over 400,000 times. Coming next is an iPad app, which seeks to "redesign the newspaper exclusively in tablet form" with a single daily edition specifically curated for the iPad audience. Also coming soon is a Guardian Android app and a new product for the HP TouchPad called Guardian Zeitgeist, which I expect will resemble its trending-topics Web product by the same name. || Earlier: Guardian announces a digital-first strategy, significant print layoffs