AfterDawn: News

Microsoft responds to YouTube app removal demand

Microsoft has responded to a demand from Google Inc. to remove its updated YouTube app from the Windows Phone Store.

Google sent Microsoft a cease and desist letter, ordering it to remove the YouTube app from the Windows Phone Store. A recent update to the app violated the terms of the YouTube API, because it intentionally cuts out advertisements and cuts straight to the video.



Google not only pointed out that this is a violation of the terms of the YouTube API, but that it also denies the creators of the content ad revenue for their work.

Microsoft issued a statement in response, saying essentially that it would absolutely show the advertisements, but that Google needs to come to the table.

YouTube is consistently one of the top apps downloaded by smartphone users on all platforms, but Google has refused to work with us to develop an app on par with other platforms. Since we updated the YouTube app to ensure our mutual customers a similar YouTube experience, ratings and feedback have been overwhelmingly positive. We'd be more than happy to include advertising but need Google to provide us access to the necessary APIs. In light of Larry Page's comments today calling for more interoperability and less negativity, we look forward to solving this matter together for our mutual customers.

The statement refers to Larry Page's comments earlier today that industry negativity was holding back progress, and said that Google "struggle with people like Microsoft."

Through a Scroogled campaign, and a bunch of videos attacking Google Docs and Gmail, Microsoft has been taking quite a lot of shots at the search giant in recent months.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 16 May 2013 0:13

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• 13 comments

• Mysttic

  Leave it to MS: when you steal our IPs and tech we'll demand you to stop, but when we try the same, we'll beg to negotiate.

  16.5.2013 08:24 #1

• dEwMe

  Who has a windows phone anyway? Literally no one I know has anything other than Cr@pple or @ndroid. I know there are some out there but where?
  
  Yeah see what happens if you touch MS revenue...lol
  
  

  Just my $0.02,
  
  dEwMe

  16.5.2013 09:06 #2

• Bozobub

  M$ may insist that Google need to "come to the table", but the bald truth here is that they will lose any court case miserably. If I was a Google exec, I'd just chop off any access to Youtube by the offending app; we'll see how long M$ sits at that table.

  16.5.2013 10:34 #3

• Jemborg

  Always thought that Google would become MS's biggest competitor.
  
  
  
  ...Ok, so maybe that was a no-brainer haha.
  

  Its a lot easier being righteous than right.
  
  
  

  16.5.2013 11:25 #4

• Mrguss

  I hope to see the day when nobody care about $M or Cr@pple.
  $GOOG is putting all their services together for "free" and it seams finally working well.
  

  +5000

  16.5.2013 14:39 #5

• Morreale

  I've got a Windows Phone. I don't mind the lack of ads.
  
  Glad someone's keeping these apps up to date.

  16.5.2013 23:57 #6

• Jemborg

  Thank Crikey for Adblock Plus/Edge
  

  Its a lot easier being righteous than right.
  
  
  

  17.5.2013 00:09 #7

• GernBlan

  There's a Windows Phone? When did that happen?
  
  :D

  17.5.2013 19:51 #8

• blueboy09

  Originally posted by Mrguss: I hope to see the day when nobody care about $M or Cr@pple.
  $GOOG is putting all their services together for "free" and it seams finally working well. That's because Larry Page doesn't have the mentality of a brick like Balmer does at Microsoft. When you see the product track history of Microsoft, I can see why Larry said that about Microsoft, and imo he's not wrong about it. Microsoft has products but are too short lived to gain any traction in the long run..
  

  Chance prepares the favored mind. Look up once in a while and you might learn something. - BLUEBOY

  17.5.2013 22:47 #9

• magictown

  Well Im an advocate of Windows phone but only since it reached 8. I now can only recommend it to my clients as.. well.. It just works... interfaces well with Skydrive and Win8 on the desktop/laptop. I had been an Apple iPhone fan for years until the 5 came out and just do not like Android, not that I dont try it day to day!
  Every time I show a new Windows phone to someone and show what it is capable of they say "why havent I seen this" or "why does everyone buy iphones/Samsungs" - Its all in the hype I say. 2 weeks of getting used to it then you wont want to go back.
  

  20.5.2013 08:51 #10

• GernBlan

  Uh huh. 75% mobile market share for Android and 95% of that being Samsung isn't hype -- it's just fact. Now Apple, they've always just been about hype, but that's changing.... to Android.... NOT Windows, which barely... BARELY... beat out the epic failing Blackberry for market share.
  
  I've been able to do everything business related on Android for years now, and I'm a career network engineer setting this up for people who typically get confused using their DirecTV remotes. The problem is a valid version of Windows Phone is very late to the game, and completely unnecessary. Who wants to switch mobile OSes at this point in the game?

  20.5.2013 11:03 #11

• magictown

  I did. Fiends and work colleagues are changing... eventually after a lot of complaining :)
  
  Most are scared to change away from those top sellers and you can understand why they are apprehensive, if everyone around them thinks they're so great! - I had convinced one collegue to go for the Nokia Lumia 920. Then they posted on Facebook what they were doing, guess what? eveyone comments, "NO, don't do it your'll regret it" stay with us iPhone and Galaxy users, we are the cool ones :)))
  
  But here at my work (I run an IT consultancy), people do make that change when they can see others using and enjoying Windows phone.
  
  They are happy now that they've switched.. in the end. There is usually an alternative to a major app. that was only available on the others. I suppose I did the Waze app. but that might change now that Facebook have bought it but I can live without it.
  
  I agree, it is late to the game but also a game changer perhaps.

  20.5.2013 12:12 #12

• GernBlan

  If I, and most anyone else, changed to Windows Phone this late in the game, I would literally lose hundreds of dollars in apps. I was forced to lose a similar investment when Palm thought it smart to force longtime PalmmOS users over to WebOS, as Palm followed the similar upgrade path as Microsoft, abandoning longtime users along the way when simply upgrading a version of their OS.
  
  Currently, if anyone is going to make a switch it will be from Apple to Android (or even Android to Apple), but most people would not see any sense (or cents) in switching to Windows Phone when MS is such a tiny player in the game and a track record of not making their OS backward compatible even for their existing customers.
  
  One word professional prediction on whether or not Windows Phone will even overtake the smaller market share of Apple: Never.

  20.5.2013 15:31 #13