Apple today announced that iPhone users will be able to enjoy YouTube’s originally-created content on their iPhones when they begin shipping on June 29. A new Apple-designed application on iPhone will wirelessly stream YouTube’s content to iPhone over Wi-Fi or EDGE networks and play it on iPhone’s stunning 3.5 inch display.
iPhone has a special YouTube player that you can launch right from the home screen. So now you can access and browse YouTube videos wherever you go. And when you find a video you want to send your friends, iPhone can even create an email with the link in it for you.
In addition, Apple announced that YouTube is now live on Apple TV. Users can download the free software update using Apple TV’s built-in software update feature, and then easily navigate through YouTube’s familiar 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 their favorite videos.
“iPhone delivers the best YouTube mobile experience by far,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in the press release. “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.”
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 their full catalog of videos is available in the H.264 format this fall.
YouTube coming to Apple iPhone:
(So, how do you like YouTube’s new Mac OS X Dock-inspired rollover animation?)
The combination of H.264-encoded videos plus iPhone’s built-in Wi-Fi networking, stunning 3.5 inch display, and custom YouTube application with its multi-touch user interface results in the best YouTube experience on any mobile device.
iPhone will include the built-in Apple-designed YouTube application when it is available in the US on June 29, 2007 in a 4GB model for US$499 and an 8GB model for $599. iPhone will be sold in the US through Apple’s retail and online stores, and through AT&T’s retail stores.
Apple TV users can download the free software update using Apple TV’s built-in software update feature.
Well, there’s at least one iPhone “missing app” present and accounted for! One would imagine that Uncle Fester really hates Google today. Hey, IT guy responsible for trying to keep Ballmer’s Vista PC running (the poor bastard’s always in Baldmore’s office), DUCK, INCOMING CHAIR!
MacDailyNews Note: We downloaded and installed the Apple TV software update which went smoothly – albeit with many flashing white apple logos. White Apple logo, black screen, Apple logo, black screen – for about 3 minutes. After updating Apple TV, we sucessfully logged into a YouTube account, searched videos using the Apple Remote and onscreen keyboard, even rated a video from Apple TV. Very interesting and also, we imagine, potentially addictive. The video quality in general is as one would expect from YouTube and the amount of videos currently available pales to the number available via YouTube online, but the experience is surprisingly fun and the videos are more “watchable” than you’d think.
i f-ing thought sooooooooo
what’s next?
software update so you can watch all your favorite NBC, CBS, FOX, & ABC shows?
This is just the beginning
The mysterious 12th application?
Just in time, so that the high school students can plan to spend the money they make in their summer jobs on the iPhone. I’ll get rich with my AAPL holdings, while these students dull their minds with that dreadful YouTube crap.
Hm. I really don’t think it should be an app on the home screen. It’s not exactly… useful and it *is* also a website anyway. Everything else is either personal or practical. YouTube is neither.
Can’t wait for the reactionary stock bounce from this one…
mystery solved!
*this must be the reason that there’s been that extra icon in one of the iphone commercials… for those of you that aren’t geeky enough to know
this is huge, doesn’t seem like it, but it is….if youtube was dominant before….
Alright, so I’ve been playing mental games in my spare time about iPhone and predictions. Here are my top ten:
1. Safari for Windows 3.1 will come out on June 29th with the iPhone and will quickly become de rigeur since the 3rd party apps available on iPhone will also be available through Safari on your computer.
2. QuickLook in Leopard lets one view Excel and Word documents from outside of the programs. Using the same software Word and Excel documents will also be viewable on iPhone.
3. In his WWDC keynote Steve showed off the “Back to my Mac” feature of Leopard , which allows a person with a .Mac account to remotely view the contents their other Macs. iPhone will use this feature to allow anyone to scan through their office or home computers while on the road.
4. An iPhone Nano will come out in October with 4GB and 8GB memory as the regular iPhone memory gets kicked up to 32 and 16. The only other difference with the Nano, besides a cheaper pricetag will be a slightly smaller screen and enclosure colors.
5. When Leopard debuts, iPhone software will be updated with iChat. Throught iChat the iPhone will become able to make VOIP calls to landlines. iChat in Leopard will also allow VOIP to landlines. .Mac will be required for this feature.
6. Just before the iPhone launch AT&T will shock the world by presenting a simple, bargain pricing structure: Unlimited Minutes, Unlimited Data – $34.99 a month.
7. Some kind of docking cradle with a phone jack in the back and wi-fi inside will allow iPhone to function as a standard phone.
8. The Calendar function in the iPhone will be a surprise big hit. It will integrate with .Mac and Leopard to update To-Do lists and Calendar events on all computers instantly through continual internet sync. The unlimited data plan will make this no problem cost-wise.
9. Apple will seed the 3rd party Safari apps with some of their own, which will be downloadable through Apple.com and iTunes. The initial offering will include several flash games, movie previews, a handy front end to wikipedia that is formatted for the 3.5 screen, and a YouTube site also made just for iPhone.
(Incidentally, a whole ecosystem of exclusively “Made for iPhone” websites will crop up extraordinarily fast. (See http://davidcann.com/iphone/ for an example of what these sites will look like… Just imagine the site as presented, but only being the frame shown inside of the iPhone image.) Some features, such as the rolodex scrolling and sideways navigating will also become standard in regular websites (not formatted to be 3rd party iPhone apps) extraordinarily fast, fueling the uptake of Safari for PC.)
10. PhotoBooth will ship on the iPhone and will allow capture of still or motion videos, with effects. All images will automatically download to the computer on sync, not incurring added cost.
One more thing — Prices won’t come down any time soon.
One last thing — A redesigned iPhone with significant new hardware features will not come for 18 months (not counting memory and screen rez).
Note one of the key points being made here, the one about YouTube — that’s Google — making all of the content on YouTube available using the H.264 codec. This is a consequence of the alliance between Apple and Google. I expect the same sort of response from Yahoo with any content that they control. This will not only drive iPhone sales with the youth demographic, but is driving the Apple TV architecture towards greater relevance and eventual acceptance. Apple TV has a slow burning fuse, but Apple is using it to shape the competitive battlefield in home entertainment. Apple and its allies are making these venues – home and mobile — safe for open standards and are preventing Microsoft or anyone else from locking in customers with proprietary codecs.
They’re all locking arms against Microsoft. This is fun to watch.
I thought the iPhone had a full fledged Safari browser. The Safari browser can play any YouTube content, so why is this being announced as a special feature? Is it the fact that it will be able to play videos in the new encoding also?
@ LinuxGuy and mac Prodigal Son,
Apple inc. are not in the business of locking people in or out, rather, they are in the business of setting people free through people exercising their right to choose.
If what they provide is what people realise they need and is better than the opposition then that is what you can describe as their killer application, because once you have experienced the taste of ambrosia in its natural organic form, then you will not settle for any artificail crap in what ever label it comes in.
That’s all!
@ Macamigo,
It is a special feature in that the current video format is the pits compared to .H264, the special is in the effort, time & money that has been spent converting the video’s. Only Mac owners and iphone owners will be able to access the enhanced video’s. Pc Safari people will not be able to access the new .H264 codec! weep! wail! and gnash your teeth to the gums!!!
Microsoft already hated google. I can’t Imaging steve balmer getting any more pissed off than he is right now.
Cool. I use YouTube to find bootlegs of concert footage of my favorite bands all the time. Now I don’t have to rip them to ATV format, plus better quality! This is a huge win for me at least.
Re: Shogun – nice post. All I can say is that I hope you are right. I’ve gotta believe VOIP is what will bring true relevance back to .Mac.
Shogun
#11) iSight on screen side of camera for WiFi video conferencing.
When are people going to recognize that with AppleTV, Apple can essentially backdoor their way right into the game console market without having to release a game console.
Apple and Google in unison:
“Red rover, red rover, send Redmond right over…”
The pudgy, pasty, and slow Microsoft will not be able to break the link, losing the game.
Would love to see “Joost” on AppleTV
It is still Beta, but we love it
http://www.joost.com/
They opened it up for invites now, anyone want an invite, email me
@Crabapple,
“Only Mac owners and iphone owners will be able to access the enhanced video’s. Pc Safari people will not be able to access the new .H264 codec! weep! wail! and gnash your teeth to the gums!!!”
Actually, since quicktime plays in Windows, wouldn’t windows users be able to use H264 in Windows quicktime??
And if so, this would be cool. Microsoft has tried to kill Quicktime for some time and now you can get great video on a PC but only by using Apple software. OUCH, look out for flying chairs. — Theres another one. !!! LOL
en
Update on Apple Tv is taking a L O O O N G time.
People should have bought 6 shares of Apple back when the iPhone was announced in January, (about $80 back then, right?) for around $500 or the price of the 4Gig iPhone. Then, they could take the money earned to lower their final cost of purchase. I mean, that’s worth $750 right now, right, right? A gross profit of $250, pretax. Every little bit helps.
I want to see a YouTube ‘app’ for the desktop Mac OS X. I always find dedicated apps to be far more elegant to use for that type of content.
Think: separate iTunes vs. web-based download services, separate Mail app vs. webmail…
Or, just an added YouTube ‘channel’ to iTunes.