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YouTube’s iPhone download fills looming void

Built-in version a victim of rift

By Michael Liedtke

 |  Associated Press  

  September 12, 2012

The new format debuted Tuesday with the release of a YouTube application that will introduce more advertising and more videos on Apple’s trend-setting devices.

Getty Images/File

The new format debuted Tuesday with the release of a YouTube application that will introduce more advertising and more videos on Apple’s trend-setting devices.

SAN FRANCISCO — YouTube is being reprogrammed for the iPhone and iPad amid the latest fallout from the growing hostility between Apple and the video service’s owner, Google.

The new format debuted Tuesday with the release of a YouTube application that will introduce more advertising and more videos on Apple’s trend-setting devices.

The changes are being made because Google Inc. and Apple Inc. didn’t renew a five-year licensing agreement that established YouTube as one of the built-in applications in the operating system that runs the iPhone and iPad.

YouTube is being bumped from the menu of pre-installed apps on the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system, or iOS, which could be released Wednesday when the latest ­iPhone is expected to be unveiled. The updated iOS also dumps Google’s digital maps as its go-to source for directions.

The mapping snub stung Google, but Apple’s removal of YouTube from the iOS’s application lineup appears to be a less contentious decision.

The two rivals couldn’t agree on the best way to watch YouTube on the iPhone and iPad, leading to the termination of the licensing agreement and leading to Google’s development of a standalone YouTube app that can be downloaded for free in in Apple’s iTunes store.

The agreement had granted Apple control over the design of the built-in YouTube app on the iPhone and iPad.

The new YouTube app will create more moneymaking opportunities for Google and video producers because it allows advertising to be shown with the clips. That’s something Apple hasn’t allowed on the pre-installed YouTube app. The ban on ads prevented many music videos and other clips from being shown in the iOS app because some copyright owners don’t allow their content to be shown if there is no way for them to be paid.

Removing the advertising limitations will mean users of the new iOS app can watch YouTube videos that already have been available on smartphones and tablet computers running on Google’s Android software, said Francisco Varela, YouTube’s global director of platform partnerships.