Vodafone hooks up with YouTube
09-02-2007
by Emmet Ryan

Vodafone has added another new media feather to its cap by linking up with YouTube to provide video content to customers.

The mobile operator announced on Friday that it had agreed a deal with YouTube to provide a selection of videos to Vodafone customers, as well as allowing users to upload videos directly from their phone to the video streaming company's website.

The deal follows Vodafone announcing a link up with MySpace on Wednesday which will see users of the social network site be able to use their handsets to access MySpace pages online. The mobile operator said the MySpace and YouTube deals were part of the company's plan to offer more internet services to its customers.

"Today's announcement with YouTube further expands the range of internet services we're bringing to the mobile, introducing a seamless experience that allows customers to engage with user generated content on the move," said Frank H. Rovekamp, global chief marketing officer, Vodafone. "Through attracting the most popular internet brands onto Vodafone mobile devices we will continue to ensure our customers can access and share the best entertainment anytime and anywhere."

As part of the link up with YouTube, Vodafone customers will be able to search for videos online and forward links to videos to other users.

"People want to view and share favourite YouTube videos seamlessly wherever and whenever they want," said Steve Chen, co-founder and chief technology officer for YouTube. "Partnering with Vodafone will accelerate those efforts to serve our loyal YouTube users as well as allow new mobile audiences to enjoy YouTube."

A spokeswoman for Vodafone told ENN that there is no exact launch date for the YouTube service as yet. She said the service would be available later this year to British users, with a rollout across other selected markets in Europe taking place at a similar time. The spokeswoman was unable to confirm if the service would be available to Irish customers.