Apple claims iPhone gives best mobile YouTube

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 20 June 2007 20:15

IT Industry - Market

On the eve of the release of iPhone, Apple has announced that iPhone users will be able to view originally-created YouTube content on their iPhones when they begin shipping on June 29. A new iPhone application will wirelessly stream YouTube’s content to iPhone over Wi-Fi or EDGE networks, while YouTube will provide videos encoded for mobile devices.

To achieve higher video quality and longer battery life on mobile devices, YouTube has begun encoding their videos in the advanced H.264 format, and iPhone will be the first mobile device to use the H.264-encoded videos. Over 10,000 videos will be available on June 29, and YouTube will be adding more each week until its full catalog of videos is available in the H.264 format in the fourth quarter.

According to Apple, the combination of H.264-encoded videos plus iPhone’s built-in Wi-Fi networking, 3.5 inch display, and custom YouTube application with its multi-touch user interface results in the best YouTube experience on any mobile device.

Apple has also announced that YouTube is now live on Apple TV. Users can download a free software update using Apple TV’s built-in software update feature, and then navigate through YouTube’s video browsing categories or search for specific videos. YouTube members can also log-in to their YouTube accounts on Apple TV to view and save videos.

“iPhone delivers the best YouTube mobile experience by far,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Now users can enjoy YouTube wherever they are—on their iPhone, on

their Mac or on a widescreen TV in their living room with Apple TV.”

In the lead up to the iPhone release, Apple is keeping the PR pressure cooking. Just recently, the company announced without further elaboration that battery life had improved. Prior to that, Apple announced that developers would be able to develop applications to run on the iPhone's Safari browser.