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Google blocks Windows Phone YouTube app again, for “manufactured” reasons

arstechnica.com

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Re: Google blocks Windows Phone YouTube app again, for “manufactured” reasons

#21

Post by CatMtKing »

cantankerous wrote: post #12
azakai wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are no "others" and no "rules". Google makes the iOS and Android apps, not third parties. The Windows Phone YouTube app would be the first significant (1) phone OS to have a YouTube app not made by Google, there are no others to compare Google's behavior on for fairness. This is the first event of its kind. (1) If you consider single digits market share to be significant.

The rules are arbitrary if Google doesn't abide by them when making publishing its own versions of YouTube apps on the dominant platforms. It's behavior is anti-competitive if it uses its position as gatekeeper to YouTube to stifle Windows Phone by placing requirements on Microsoft that it doesn't place on itself.

The "rules" are for third-party users. Google controls the service and the access to it.

Re: Google blocks Windows Phone YouTube app again, for “manufactured” reasons

#22

Post by [deleted] »

dkuntz2 wrote: post #4

I'm not sure if it's Ars' commentary, or just the commenters, but it seems entirely sided towards Microsoft. Ars didn't mention that Microsoft didn't want to play by the rather simple rules of "put the video in a web frame", and that Microsoft admits to re-releasing the application they previously pulled because it didn't follow the rules. Plus, it seems like the author of the post fails to understand what Google wan…

[deleted]

Re: Google blocks Windows Phone YouTube app again, for “manufactured” reasons

#24

Post by chx »

4thjuly wrote: post #17
teyc wrote: post #16

This is business. Microsoft would do exactly the same if the situation was reversed.

Exactly, Microsoft already does something similar by reserving some of their APIs for their own use. There are others that are available to some (eg the carriers) but nobody else. It's nothing new, they have had so-called 'private' APIs since the early days of Windows.

And Windows detected DR-DOS and crashed your computer to kill DR-DOS and MS paid a paltry $150M to Caldera later but they got to upkeep their monopoly in the PC market. Now they get a small serving of this medicine and it's far less sinister and they whine. Oh they irony.

Re: Google blocks Windows Phone YouTube app again, for “manufactured” reasons

#25

Post by jbigelow76 »

diminish wrote: post #23

just out of curiosity, are there official youtube apps on blackberry, new and old, Bada and the new comers like Jolla,FirefoxOS etc?

Do the proprietor's of those platforms want an "official" app that they are willing to put their own resources into developing? Remember, this is about Google cutting off an API key so Google isn't out any engineering/time/money resources, the "official" modifier is mostly marketing BS.

Re: Google blocks Windows Phone YouTube app again, for “manufactured” reasons

#26

Post by manojlds »

teyc wrote: post #16

This is business. Microsoft would do exactly the same if the situation was reversed.

But when MS does something like this and it comes out in the news, I don't see people commenting "Google would do exactly the same."

Re: Google blocks Windows Phone YouTube app again, for “manufactured” reasons

#27

Post by DannyBee »

adrianlmm wrote: post #6
billnguyen wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

its not anticompetitive to not allow a third party to release your product on their platform without following your rules (reasonable or not). Hundreds of millions of dollars in engineering effort and bandwidth go into Youtube. In reality Google is completely within its rights to no do anything to support any platform it chooses not to. Why allow a platform and company to leech off that if they're not willing to. Mic…

That would be OK is the rules weren't arbitrary, it is not OK to allow native API calls to some and to force to use HTML5 to others, it is inexcusable.

Why?

How is this any different than me releasing my code under something like the LGPL, which would allow those folks who dynamically link to not release source to their app, but force those who are required to statically link (due to platform or other reasons) to release source to their app?

Note that it's a similar situation. If I release code under the LGPL, i don't have to abide by it, only others do.

Twitter requires third party API users limit themselves to 100k users (or whatever it is), but, even though they use the same API, does not require it of itself.

They also have decided some folks don't have to abide by this.

How is this different?

None of this is "anti-competitive" behavior.

Would you think it anti-competitive behavior if Google provided no API and also told people finding ways to embed it to stop?

Re: Google blocks Windows Phone YouTube app again, for “manufactured” reasons

#30

Post by doublec »

diminish wrote: post #23

just out of curiosity, are there official youtube apps on blackberry, new and old, Bada and the new comers like Jolla,FirefoxOS etc?

Blackberry's BB10 OS uses the Web interface. It actually works quite well. Firefox OS also uses the web interface.

Microsoft's YouTube app on Windows phone is actually really nice. It's a pity Google keep trying to stop it.

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