YouTube going mobile with Verizon, available next month
by DJ Neawedde | 28th November 2006
YouTube will soon announce an agreement that will bring users videos Verizon’s V Cast service.
According to Pete Cashmore, “you can expect the service to launch next month.” Which is much sooner than previously thought by some. Additionally, users will be able upload videos from a Verizon phones to YouTube.
From Reuters: Verizon says about 20 million of its customers have phones that could support Vcast. But only about 10 percent of these phone users have subscribed to Vcast.
So what should we expect from this deal? This deal should increase service revenue significantly for Verizon, and get U.S. consumers more involved in mobile video usage.
Subscribe
This is interesting in that it plays into Verizon’s existing model for VCast. It’s a win for Verizon because they want to push a traditional broadcast model, and it’s a win for YouTube because it pushes the YouTube brand to the forefront of mobile.
The fact is, this isn’t YouTube on mobile. It’s just the top YouTube videos on mobile. There are a lot of other competitors launching “true” mobile user-generated content sharing WAP sites and applications right now. YouTube won’t be launching its for some time, so it wants to make sure it’s brand is in the forefront of the mobile space until it actually launches its true mobile service.
We saw MySpace do this several times, with its limited Helio deal and with its MySpace music label on Cingular.
The proof will be when YouTube actually launches its mobile app and how that compares to similar offerings from TreeMo, Mobango, and Zannel (my company).
The Hoff
November 29th, 2006 at 3:00 pm
i think that it sucks just watching videos i think they should of got myspace mobile instead like cingular. thats what i think
January 3rd, 2007 at 9:12 pm