Microsoft, Google to Work on New YouTube App for Windows Phone

Windows Phone users can expect a new YouTube application jointly built by Microsoft and Google at some point in the future.

That’s according to an announcement made by both companies late last week. The agreement comes two weeks after Google sent Microsoft a cease and desist letter demanding that the company remove its third-party YouTube client from the Windows Phone Store, claiming that it violated YouTube’s Terms of Service.

At the time, Google cited two issues as being part of their core objection to application. First, the application didn’t force users to look at or watch video advertisements in between video clips provided by the service. The application also allowed users to download videos for storage offline, another big violation for any YouTube application that is officially sanctioned by the service.

AllAboutMicrosoft received a statement from both companies confirming their new partnership saying,

“Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube’s API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time.”

Microsoft initially created a YouTube application for Windows Phone on its own after Google publicly declared that it would not be releasing any high profile applications for Windows Phone or Windows 8 devices. This initial version essentially only directed users to YouTube’s HTML 5 based web page.

Two weeks ago, Microsoft announced a revamped client that supported natively watching YouTube videos inside an application without the need to redirect users to YouTube’s website.

While the two companies have agreed to work together on a new YouTube application that uses Google’s official APIs and thus will have ads, it remains unclear if this will mark a shift in presence for Google applications across Microsoft’s ecosystems. While the Xbox 360 does have a YouTube application, Windows 8 users don’t have access to an official app for the video sharing site. Google also doesn’t offer any of its other services like Google Now to Windows Phone users.