News from Google
YouTube Launches New Mobile Website Globally
m.youtube.com Boasts Faster, Higher-Quality YouTube Video Experience Across Mobile Devices
Highlights:
- New YouTube Mobile site built in HTML5 launches globally and adds support for more devices.
- Mobile Website offers faster, higher quality than native mobile apps.
- Greater social sharing functionality (Twitter, Facebook and Buzz).
- YouTube Mobile gets over 100 million views a day and every minute an hour of video is uploaded to YouTube from a Mobile device.
London, United Kingdom, August 24, 2010 – The mobile Internet is huge and growing fast. According to a 2009 report, within five years more users will connect to the Internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs. YouTube consumption on mobile devices has also grown considerably: playbacks were up 160% in 2009 over the previous year and YouTube Mobile now receives more than 100 million video playbacks a day. This is roughly the number of daily playbacks that YouTube.com was streaming when YouTube joined forces with Google in 2006.
YouTube launched on mobile devices in 2007 with about 1,000 videos available on the mobile site (m.youtube.com). While this suddenly opened up the possibility to access videos on the go, our site, mobile browsers and the hardware had limitations that prevented the mobile experience from keeping up with YouTube on the desktop. Today, more than ever, YouTube knows that you want to be able to find and access your favorite videos wherever you are. That’s why YouTube’s rolling out an updated version of the mobile site. Here’s what’s new about it:
- It’s really fast.
- The user interface incorporates larger, more touch-friendly elements, making it easier to access videos on the go.
- It incorporates the features and functionality you’ve come to expect from the .com site, like search query suggestions, the options to create playlists, the ability to designate “favorite”, “like” or “unlike” videos directly from your device.
- As YouTube makes improvements to Youtube.com, you’ll see them quickly follow on our mobile site, unlike native apps which are not updated as frequently. Some recent updates since the US launch are support across more platforms and more social sharing features from the YouTube Mobile site (Facebook, Twitter and Buzz).
As the world continues to go mobile, YouTube thinks this new mobile Website offers a great improvement for anyone who wants a more consistent YouTube experience across devices, no matter where they are. You can access the latest YouTube mobile site from Android mobile devices among other smart phones. To learn more, visit m.youtube.com to check out the latest improvements and take a minute to watch this demo video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGT8ZCTBoBA
YouTube Mobile Timeline
Since May of 2006, people who love YouTube have been finding ways to watch their favorite YouTube videos on mobile devices:
- May ’06 – YouTube video uploads enabled from mobile phones
- December ’06 – YouTube signs first deal w/first mobile carrier
- June ’07 – First YT mobile site launches
- January ’08 – Mobile site launches with full catalogue and YouTube Java application
- August ’09 – Smart phone mobile site launches
- March ’10 – Mobile ads launch
- July ’10 – New Mobile site (Blazer) launches in US
- August ’10 – New mobile site launches worldwide
About YouTube
YouTube is the world’s most popular online video community allowing millions of people to discover, watch and share originally-created videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small. YouTube, LLC is based in San Bruno, CA and is a subsidiary of Google Inc.