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Microsoft responds to WP YouTube block, unleashes on Google

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By Michael Heller

Published: Aug 15, 2013, 6:18 PM

Microsoft responds to WP YouTube block, unleashes on Google

A couple days ago, Microsoft released a new YouTube app for Windows Phone; and today, Google shut it down again. If you're thinking this all sound familiar, you are right. We seem to be stuck in a terrible loop where the same thing happens over and over. Microsoft makes a YouTube app; Google shuts it down; Google says it violates Terms of Service; and, Microsoft blames Google.

We're relatively sure that this silly dance is going to keep happening, no matter how annoying it is, or how much it angers Windows Phone users. Earlier today, Google admitted that it had blocked the new YouTube app, but didn't give much info as to why. Google said that the browser wasn't upgraded to standards, and the app still violated terms of use.

Now, Microsoft is firing back, and not surprisingly, it is blaming Google for the whole mess:

It seems to us that Google’s reasons for blocking our app are manufactured so that we can’t give our users the same experience Android and iPhone users are getting. The roadblocks Google has set up are impossible to overcome, and they know it.

Google claims that one problem with our new app is that it doesn’t always serve ads based on conditions imposed by content creators. Our app serves Google’s advertisements using all the metadata available to us. We’ve asked Google to provide whatever information iPhone and Android get so that we can mirror the way ads are served on these platforms more precisely. So far at least, Google has refused to give this information to us. We are quite confident that we can solve this issue if Google cooperates, but fixing Google’s concern here is entirely within Google’s control. If Google stops blocking our app, we are happy to work with them on this, entirely at Microsoft’s expense.

Google also says that we are not complying with its 'terms and conditions.' What Google really means is that our app is not based on HTML5. The problem with this argument, of course, is that Google is not complying with this condition for Android and iPhone. Again, we’re happy to collaborate with Google on an HTML5 app, but we shouldn’t be required to do something that apparently neither iPhone nor Android has successfully figured out how to do.
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We think it’s clear that Google just doesn’t want Windows Phone users to have the same experience as Android and Apple users, and that their objections are nothing other than excuses. Nonetheless, we are committed to giving our users the experience they deserve, and are happy to work with Google to solve any legitimate concerns they may have. In the meantime, we once again request that Google stop blocking our YouTube app.

It seems that this time around, Microsoft is taking off the gloves. Microsoft has erred on the side of diplomacy before, but this time around, the company is blatantly calling out Google, who has yet to respond. It looks like this is the answer to our question earlier of why Microsoft would release an app that would get blocked: it wanted the excuse to unleash this response on Google.

Nicely played, Microsoft.

source: David Howard, Corporate Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Litigation & Antitrust, Microsoft

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Michael Heller is known for his clear and informative articles on mobile technology. He explores important topics such as the rollouts of 5G networks and the advancements in mobile payments, offering readers insights into the evolving tech landscape.