Google Play Newsstand app makes pay content available in four new countries; iOS version of app gets updated

Google has announced that paid content for the Google Play Newsstand Service is now available in four more countries. This brings the total number of territories with access to paid content through the service to 22.

Android Police reports that the four new countries that can now get paid content from Newsstand are the Philippines, Poland, Taiwan and Ukraine, citing the Google Play Store support page. The countries join the likes of Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Belgium and France, among others, where pay content is available as well. The availability of free content on Newsstand when accessing from those countries will not be affected.

Some of the titles that will be made available on Newsstand are Maxim, GQ, Cosmo, Vogue, Glamour among others. However, the Android Police clarifies that available content between the territories will be different due to international publishing. Aside from international editions, there may be local versions of publications depending on availability.

The latest update for Newsstand service also featured a few usability changes to the app, as the newest version provides the option to add shortcuts for quick access to stories and news sites. This can be done through the overflow menu (the three-dot button) on the Newsstand interface. All of the shortcuts added by users are placed on their device's home screen.

In related news, Google has announced that the iOS version of Google Play Newsstand has been updated to add magazine reading support along with the ability to read magazines in a mobile-optimized format and bookmarking news stories for users to read later. However, the app does not support the reading of interactive magazines.

Google Newsstand is a news aggregator and digital news application for the Android and iOS mobile operating systems. It may be downloaded from the Play Store for Android and iTunes for iOS.