Google has made its HTML5-enabled mobile YouTube service available in Europe as part of a series of upgrades the company says will improve the video experience for viewers on the move.
The upgraded site went live in the US last month, but booming growth for the mobile service globally has forced the company to extend the service across multiple regions and mobile phone platforms.
That includes Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, which like most mobiles haven’t been able to play YouTube content embedded in third-party websites.
The site uses the video tag from HTML5, which lets video be embedded and played without requiring a media player, and is optimised for touch devices, with large icons to make navigation easier.
According to Google, the update should also improve the service when accessed over 3G networks or slow Wi-Fi because users can switch to a lower-quality video over slower connections.
“We tried to make it snappy, but run in any browser across platforms,” said Andrey Doronichev, YouTube’s mobile product manager.
The mobile site now has a host of features that were previously restricted to the main website, including playlists, search query suggestions and “like” and “unlike” buttons.
“The most important thing about this new product is consistency,” Doronichev said. “We tried really hard to make it consistent with what you’re getting on the desktop.”
Google’s move comes just a week after Vimeo, a rival video sharing sie, unveiled its own HTML5 video player.
Reuters / Stewart Mitchell / Simon Aughton
