YouTube Mobile Site is Now HTML5

Posted by rorypiper on July 8th, 2010 in Applications , iPad , iPhone , iPod Touch , News

Yesterday, YouTube announced that their mobile site has received a major, HTML5 overhaul, bringing more compatibility to more mobile devices.

We launched YouTube 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, we know that you want to be able to find and access your favorite videos wherever you are. That’s why we’re 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 we make improvements to Youtube.com, you’ll see them quickly follow on our mobile site, unlike native apps which are not updated as frequently.

This new mobile site is faster and more responsive than the native iPhone app, in my opinion. You can watch high quality videos. You can sign in to your account to see your videos. You can view and leave comments. The new UI is very clean and user friendly to all mobile devices, and with the videos now in HTML5, any device can view videos on YouTube. The only thing that holds this back, from completely replacing YouTube apps, is the ability to upload videos, right from your device. You still need an app for that.

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