Microsoft has talked up Windows Phone 8's app selection quite a bit lately, saying that 46 of the top 50 mobile apps will soon be on the platform and that 75,000 apps were added to the Windows Phone Store in 2012. Apps are again Microsoft's focus today, but this time the company is upset about one app that it doesn't have. A new blog post from Dave Heiner, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Microsoft, claims that Google is blocking a fully-featured YouTube app from being released on Windows Phone.
This is an issue that Microsoft has touched on in the past, claiming that Google has blocked Windows Phone from accessing YouTube using an app like on Android and iOS both in 2010 and in 2011. Heiner says that Microsoft been working with the YouTube team on this matter in recent years. However, he claims that Microsoft recently heard from YouTube that Google senior executives have told the YouTube group "not to enable a first-class YouTube experience on Windows Phones."
In a statement sent to AllThingsD, Google has said that Windows Phone users can easily access YouTube using the site's HTML5 mobile page through their browser on their device. The full comment from Google:
"Contrary to Microsoft’s claims, it’s easy for consumers to view YouTube videos on Windows phones. Windows phone users can access all the features of YouTube through our HTML5-based mobile website, including viewing high-quality video streams, finding favorite videos, seeing video ratings, and searching for video categories. In fact, we’ve worked with Microsoft for several years to help build a great YouTube experience on Windows phones."
Both Android and iOS are currently home to nice-looking YouTube apps, but opening the YouTube app for Windows Phone simply brings up the site in a browser. While the accuracy of Microsoft's latest claims remains to be seen, it's kind of a bummer that Windows Phone users are without a nice YouTube app like their Android and iOS buddies. Hopefully that'll change at some point in the future, but until then, at least Windows Phone users have apps like MetroTube to satiate their on-the-go YouTube appetite. Are you Windows Phone folk upset that your YouTube app isn't similar to the ones on competing platforms?
Via Microsoft, AllThingsD
