A big clash of technology giants has been averted, as Google and Microsoft have decided to smoke peace pipe and develop a YouTube app for the Windows Phone together. The new app will be using the iFrame API of YouTube and is expected to be rolled out in June.
The co-developed application will be compliant to the terms of service of the video sharing website and will now serve ads.
"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," according to a joint statement issued by the two companies.
"Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time," the announcement clarified.
The agreement follows an episode of disagreement between Google and Microsoft.
The problem started when the search engine company declined the request to develop a YouTube app for the Windows Phone. Microsoft, in response, decided to use a publicly available YouTube API to develop its own version of the YouTube app. However, this app allowed downloading of videos from YouTube and did not show ads, which are clear violations to the terms of service of YouTube.
Google, in reaction, had sent a cease-and-desist letter to Microsoft on May 15, telling the latter to pull out the app or block the app from the Windows Phone Store on or before May 22.
Last week, Microsoft had bowed down to the demands of Google and finally released an updated version of the YouTube app. The company removed the download functionality of the app but still kept the ads out of the equation.
However, on Friday, the two companies came together and decided to make a new YouTube app. "In contact with Google and continue to believe that our two companies can work together to hone an app that benefits out mutual customers, partners, and content providers," Microsoft said.
No additional information was released with regard to how Google and Microsoft were able to seal the deal.
Now that the technology giants are smoking the peace pipe, it will be a good high for customers of both companies as come June, Windows Phone users will be able to directly access YouTube videos using the new app. They have to deal with advertisements and maybe miss some functionality which, however, is better than not having a YouTube app at all.
