Web-based YouTube coming to iPhone Safari
updated 09:55 am EDT, Mon March 31, 2008
iPhone adds web YouTube
Apple's anticipated iPhone 2.0 firmware will add some form of YouTube support within Safari, accounts say. Apple recently began distributing an updated version of the iPhone firmware to accompany the latest version of the SDK, and YouTube is now said to be accessible through a plug-in for MobileSafari.app. Traditionally, iPhone and iPod touch users have had to access YouTube from a separate, custom application, which also only links specially-formatted videos.
Still to be confirmed by developers is whether the plug-in simply provides an integrated web version of the current application, or whether it somehow introduces a form of Flash support. The public iPhone version of Safari does not presently support Flash, mainly due to concerns over battery consumption. Adobe, however, has said it is building a variant of the software that will be downloadable after the App Store goes live in June.
Reports additionally indicate that the SDK comes with a new version of WebKit, the rendering engine behind Safari. That component is at v525.15 in the SDK, only a few versions behind the desktop WebKit's v526.1. Recently, an experimental desktop build reached a perfect Acid3 score.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2000
Skeptical
For Mobile Safari to play YouTube videos, Safari would either need to support Flash, or it'd need to use the "specially formated videos." It's almost guaranteed that it iPhone 2.0 won't support Flash, based on reports from Adobe that they were going to try and do Flash for iPhone on their own.
If YouTube on Mobile Safari still required the specially formatted videos, users wouldn't have access to a larger library than they would through the dedicated app, so what's the point in using Safari instead of the YouTube app?