Nokia to help YouTube win mobile market
By George Gardner
Last November, YouTube announced YouTube Mobile, a project that will allow mobile phones access to the massive database of YouTube movies. Verizon was first on board; and now, the much popular Nokia wants to join the excitement.
Many mobile phone browsers are not compatible with Flash 9, the same format behind all the current YouTube content; however, Youtube Mobile bridges the gap between the phone and the format. You no longer need to send your friends a URL or even have access to a computer to share videos.
With the UK’s popular SeeMeTV service, and now Vodafone planning to launch a similar user driven video service, Youtube was almost forced to launch a mobile website to keep from loosing in the mobile market;
Nokia and Youtube have worked out a deal that will let Nokia’s N-series of Internet capable phones to access the YouTube Mobile website (coming soon), through the Nokia Web Browser. The N-series phones will support YouTube RSS feeds; allowing you to view such feeds as the most recent or highest rated videos on the system, or specific RSS feeds modeled around a certain genre.
The RSS feeds will be accessible through the new Nokia Video Center which will be available for download on compatible Nokia S60 devices, and will come pre-installed on the Nokia N95 and many other N-series phones hereafter.
Steve Chen, YouTube founder and CTO, said, “We are thrilled to be giving users easy access to entertaining YouTube videos anytime and anywhere. By partnering with an industry leader like Nokia, we’re able to bring YouTube videos to mobile phone users worldwide.”
“Our cooperation with YouTube paves the way for continued growth for Internet based content distribution. Enabling people to have access to a wide range of videos on their connected multimedia computers offers great potential for this area,” said Torsti Tenhunen, Director, Multimedia, Nokia. “Also, Nokia Video Center offers content producers and distributors a unique way to lead consumers directly to dynamic video services which can easily be produced and tailored for various interests.”
This feature is already gaining popularity among the YouTube community, and is sure to be both a successful venture for YouTube and Nokia.
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