Google Blocks Microsoft’s YouTube App Once Again

Boy, here we go with the childish games. Microsoft and Google have a touchy relationship, and nowhere else is this more evident in the domain of mobile apps. While Redmond readily codes for the Android and iOS platforms, Google so far has shy away from Metro apps.

The search engine giant has only developed a couple of official apps for Windows Phone and Windows 8, and has even gone so far as to say that it has no intention of coding for the platforms.

Microsoft, however, built a YouTube app for Windows Phone — which was blocked by Google. The search engine giant said that the app violated its terms of service.

Both companies were said to be collaborating on an updated version of the YouTube app, which Redmond recently launched earlier this week. But now Google has decided the new application is still not something that complies with their TOS, and as a result the app is once again blocked.

The Verge is reporting the following statement from Google:

“Microsoft has not made the browser upgrades necessary to enable a fully-featured YouTube experience, and has instead re-released a YouTube app that violates our Terms of Service.”

No idea what the browser upgrades means, but the first version of the app did violate a couple of things. It allowed the ability to download videos, and showed no ads. Now it appears that Google was not kept in the loop with this second version and did not know about the release.

And apparently that is enough to block an app these days.

Google and Microsoft are once again said to be in talks to get this issue resolved, but no timeline for a potential resolution has been provided.

Ultimately though, the only loser in this ordeal is the user. Those using Windows Phone devices and want to enjoy YouTube as an app will have to look into alternative solutions, a few of which were available on the Windows Phone Store.