The battle between Google and Microsoft has been raging on for the past few months. We first spoke about the release of an official YouTube app for WP8 mad by Microsoft, bringing with it a whole host of new features, and an experience comparable with iOS and Android. Then Google demanded that the app be removed as it didn’t comply to their standards. Several months later, and it seemed that Google and Microsoft had come to an agreement, and the YouTube app was back on the store just 2 days ago, with a WP7 version as well. However, a day after the app was launched, the app basically died and stopped working. Who did it? Google.
Google killed Microsoft’s YouTube app, raining on the parades of Windows Phone users. And when it rains, it pours. The app basically stopped working completely, displaying only an error message reading “something happened and we’re not sure what”. It is now officially confirmed that Google is to blame. Apparently Google wants the app to be compatible with HTML5, but as Microsoft decided that such an app would take too long to develop, they went ahead an published a non-HTML5 version of the app. But Google turned hostile and stopped the app from working, for now.
It is obvious that Google is just trying to deny Microsoft’s users from a complete YouTube experience, as both the iOS and Android versions of the app are not HTML5 compatible at all and yet Google’s cool with it. But when it comes down to Microsoft, Google just wants to make things difficult for them.
Microsoft is furious, and they’re not holding back. Now, David Howard, Corporate Vice President & Deputy General Counsel at Microsoft, has taken to TechNet, Microsoft’s blog on legal and public policy. Needless to say, the nearly 1000 word statement is chock full of information and more details on the matter, making an excellent read.
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.
– David Howard
Corporate Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft
Google is definitely behaving rather dishonestly, and Microsoft’s users are suffering at their expense.
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Image courtesy of wpcentral
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