Apple to Bring YouTube to iPhone
Content from Google’s Video-Sharing Site Now Available on Apple TV
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 6/20/2007 10:19:00 AM
Apple extended its deal with Google's YouTube video-sharing site, and it will offer clips of cats falling off skateboards on its iPhone mobile devices when they begin shipping June 29.
Apple also announced that YouTube content is now available on its Apple TV set-top boxes under the original agreement the two companies announced in late May. Accessing the clips requires a free software update.
On the iPhone, Apple said it designed a new application to wirelessly stream YouTube's content to the device and play it on a 3.5-inch display.
"Now users can enjoy YouTube wherever they are -- on their iPhone, on their Mac or on a wide-screen TV in their living room with Apple TV," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in announcing the feature.
YouTube will encode its videos for the iPhone in MPEG-4 H.264 format, which, according to Apple and YouTube, will provide higher video quality and longer battery life on mobile devices. The duo said the iPhone will be the first mobile device to use YouTube's H.264-encoded videos.
The companies said more than 10,000 YouTube videos will be available on the iPhone next week, and YouTube will add more each week until its full catalog of videos is available this fall.
The iPhone, available exclusively with AT&T wireless service, will cost $499 for a version with 4 gigabytes of storage and $599 for an 8-GB model.
Last fall, YouTube signed a distribution deal with Verizon Communications, which YouTube said would have exclusive mobile-distribution rights for a limited time. The companies did not disclose the length of time that deal would be exclusive, but apparently it was around six months.
