Well, well, well. Redmond may quite possibly have found a way to get Google to cooperate. The magic word is making your own app without the search engine giant’s ads.
The war between Microsoft and Google transcended over to Windows Phone, when the software titan recently released a revamped YouTube app for its mobile platform. The version 2.0 of the YouTube app that launched on May 7 did not display Google’s advertisements.
Google promptly send Microsoft a cease and desist letter demanding that downloads for this particular app be halted, as the company felt it was violating the terms of YouTube’s API. Microsoft replied that they would be all too happy to put in the ads if they had full access to the APIs.
Essentially, Google was pushed into a corner, and the only way out was to cooperate.
And this is exactly what the search engine giant did. Microsoft, in a brief statement confirmed that it is working together with YouTube regarding the status of its latest Windows Phone YouTube app. The statement read:
“Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube’s API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time.”
Obviously an official app holds special significance, but the Windows Phone Store already boasts several great third-party solutions — some that even allow users to download videos to their mobile devices.
But for a technology titan that outright said it would not be developing apps for a competing platform (in this case, Windows Phone), this is an interesting new development where both companies will get together to develop the application. The winner in this case, is surely and certainly, the consumer.
