Helio Launches Full-Featured YouTube App
By Carlo Longino - Wed 12 Dec 2007 04:53 AM PST
Helio, the MVNO joint venture of SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) and Earthlink, (NSDQ: ELNK) is launching a new YouTube application for users of its Ocean handset. The operator already offered access to some YouTube videos through its “Video Virus” service, as well as two-click upload of videos, but the new application adds a number of new features, including uploads integrated into the device’s camera app and GPS tagging. It also allows users to log in to YouTube and access its personalized features, like rating, sharing and commenting of videos, features Helio says aren’t available on any other mobile device or operator.
Several device manufacturers and operators already offer some sort of access to YouTube, such as the iPhone’s YouTube app, or Verizon’s (NYSE: VZ) exclusive (which has since expired) last year. What makes this Helio announcement a little different, and a little more interesting, is that access to nearly all of the YouTube library is delivered alongside a host of community and uploading features that will allow users to enjoy a very similar (and in some ways richer) experience to that of YouTube on their PC.
It’s also worth noting how YouTube is dealing with different operators and device makers. When it announced the Verizon exclusive, it got widely panned. Since that exclusive expired, it’s worked with a number of different partners, such as Apple, (NSDQ: AAPL) Nokia, (NYSE: NOK) LG (SEO: 066570) and Vodafone. YouTube has been working on transcoding its library from FLV into a more mobile-friendly format, and making it publically available at m.youtube.com, but it also seems to be happy to work with almost any partner that wants to develop a YouTube app for its customers or users, letting them create their own applications and services with different features. Many observers noted that it didn’t make a lot of sense for YouTube to lock itself up in exclusive mobile deals; its strategy now seems to be to encourage as many players as possible to develop their own ways to get people using YouTube on their mobile.
Posted in: Companies, Google, Operators, MVNO, Helio, Entertainment, Mobile Video
