Because the most popular phone in the country doesn’t support the Flash video standard that powers Youtube, the video sharing giant has launched a new mobile site that’s capable with the iPhone’s replacement: HTML5.
It’s not just because of the iPhone, though. HTML5 is poised to become a serious challenger and possible replacement for Flash video.
Although Youtube’s standard video streaming would not work on the iPhone and many other handsets that don’t support Flash, Google created special mobile apps that still allowed users to browse through Youtube’s huge assortment of videos.
Today, though, users will be free to open up ther phone’s Internet browser and stream content directly through there. Some Youtube apps have clunky navigation and are not as user-friendly as the interface people have grown to know and love on their computers.
The new mobile Web site also promises increased speed, a more touch-friendly interface, the ability to “like” or “dislike” a video, and more frequent updates.
“As the world continues to go mobile, we think this is a great improvement for users who want a more consistent YouTube across many devices, no matter where they are,” said Google in an official blog post.
