Google Blocks The New YouTube App For Windows Phone, Claims Microsoft Has Violated Its TOS Again

Today Google confirmed that it has blocked the new YouTube app for Windows Phone. Yesterday, the day after it was released, users reported issues regarding playback within the application. Those errors, it is now clear, were due to Google axing the application’s access to YouTube.

In a statement, a YouTube spokesperson told TechCrunch that “Microsoft has not made the browser upgrades necessary to enable a fully featured YouTube experience,” which led to the company re-releasing “a YouTube app that violates our Terms of Service.” For that reason, it has been shuttered from Google’s end.

Microsoft informed TechCrunch that it is “working with [Google] to resolve the issue.”

Someone fucked up. Microsoft and Google are working in concert to get a functional YouTube application out for Windows Phone. For Microsoft to launch something that failed the Google test means that something went south. And given the lilt of the situation, I suspect Microsoft more than Google in this case.

The real losers in the situation are Windows Phone users who just want to watch videos on their phones but can’t, because two bickering corporate giants can’t play nice long enough to do well by their users (YouTube fans for Google, and Microsoft’s mobile customers).

Google and Microsoft have been in a long spat this year, arguing over email and calendar syncing, mobile mapping access, YouTube on Windows Phone and more. This is one episode that is simply unneeded. Though you have to wonder if Microsoft is being slightly impish, and is poking Google in the eye on purpose over the application.

Top Image Credit: Vernon Chan