14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like Windows Phone does not have a large enough customer base that would convince Google to allow Microsoft to build a native YouTube application.
Even though this has yet to be confirmed, the above might be a good reason for Google to block Microsoft’s access to the application’s full APIs.
According to Dave Heiner, one of Microsoft’s chief lawyers, “Google continues to prevent Microsoft from offering consumers a fully featured YouTube app for the Windows Phone.”
Apparently, the problem has already been acknowledged by the European Commission and US Federal Trade Commission, but no resolution has been issued yet.
Due to the fact that Microsoft was unable to access YouTube metadata, the Windows Phone application “is basically just a browser displaying YouTube’s mobile Web site, without the rich functionality offered on competing phones.”
However, a native YouTube application is already available on other Microsoft ecosystems such as Xbox, so it’s unclear why Google would not allow the Redmond-based company access to YouTube APIs.
Furthermore, Microsoft claims that it is ready to offer a full YouTube experience to Windows Phone users as soon as Google will provide access to their app’s metadata.
“Microsoft is ready to release a high quality YouTube app for Windows Phone. We just need permission to access YouTube in the way that other phones already do, permission Google has refused to provide.”
Google was fast to reply to Microsoft’s allegations and issued the following statement, which doesn’t really explain why it does not allow the latter to build a native app for Windows Phone devices:
“Contrary to Microsoft’s claims, it’s easy for consumers to view YouTube videos on Windows phones. Windows phone users can access all the features of YouTube through our HTML5-based mobile website, including viewing high-quality video streams, finding favorite videos, seeing video ratings, and searching for video categories.
“In fact, we’ve worked with Microsoft for several years to help build a great YouTube experience on Windows phones.”