Google to launch rival service to Groupon couponing site favoured by Canadian magazines

Of late, several Canadian magazines have jumped on to using Groupon and its daily coupons to sell deep discount subs (Ski Canada, BC Business, Canadian Art, This magazine). While the return is small, it is a way of inexpensively reaching large pools of potential subscribers who can perhaps be converted to regular subscriptions.

Groupon was courted by Google last year and there was talk of a $6 billion deal, but ultimately Groupon turned it down in favour of pursuing its own public offering to raise $15 billion. Well now, according to an exclusive story on Mashable.com, Google is simply going to start a rival service called Google Offers. 

Google Offers looks and operates much like Groupon or LivingSocial. Users receive an e-mail with a local deal of the day. They then have the opportunity to buy that deal within a specific time limit (we assume 24 hours). Once enough people have made the purchase, the Google Offer is triggered and users get that all-too-familiar $10 for $20 deal for that Indian restaurant they’ve never tried.
From what we can tell, Google Offers will be powered by Google Checkout. It also includes Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader, Google Buzz and e-mail sharing options.