With the anticipated upgrade of Apple’s mobile operating system to iOS 6 this fall, one app will be noticeably missing: the YouTube app.
According to Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller, the license to include the YouTube app has ended, as reported in USA Today. Muller said customers can access YouTube using Apple’s Safari web browser, but according to independent mobile analyst Chetan Sharma, a pre-packaged app offered by the device maker is estimated to be used 15 to 20 percent more frequently than other apps.
The existing YouTube app currently available on iPhones and iPads was created in-house by Apple developers and has the unique benefit of filtering out any advertisements normally found on YouTube videos, giving Apple mobile users an ad-free viewing experience.
Some video content creators, however, did not approve of the current Apple ad restrictions and are now looking forward to the upcoming changes.
“I’m totally ok with it,” tweeted Matthew Ferguson, @RUferg, also known as ‘therealruferg’ on YouTube.
‘Mattstache Ferguson’, as he calls himself, created a parody music video in February showing his face in various stages as he shaved off his 5-year-old beard growth while lip-synching to a Nicki Minaj song.
Ferguson, a Rutgers faculty staff member, gained notoriety when his video, meant as joke for a few of his friends, went viral with over 1.2 million views.
He released his second video in June, a lip-synch video of Rihanna’s “Where Have You Been?” but saw a significant drop in YouTube views.
“The Apple ad policy prevented my second video from being seen on mobile devices,” he tweeted. “Ads are a part of the cost of free sites like YouTube. While Apple was trying to protect viewers, it was just limiting content in the end.”
Steve Guberman, principal and creative director of Fifth Room Creative, a Denville-based graphic and web design agency, is interested to see how Apple will respond to Google.
“Steve Jobs originally wanted iPhones to run web apps, not installed apps. I think this will push Google to build a more robust web application to deliver a better user experience on YouTube in a mobile environment,” he said.
For Further Reading,
