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Is Mobile Access To YouTube The New Must-Have Feature?

We all know the iPhone is in bed with YouTube, and apparently Helio, LG, and Samsung are looking to make it a ménage à cinq. A spate of announcements from the latter three companies over the course of the last week shows that there is a lot of interest in mobile YouTube.

If there's one thing I have discovered over the past week or so playing with my iPhone, it is that the mobile version of YouTube has its limitations. Blogger Mitch Wagner says it is like reading a book. Hmm, maybe. Over AT&T's Edge network, the videos can be slow to load, choppy, and the quality is not super-duper fantastic. Running the iPhone's YouTube application over Wi-Fi is much more rewarding. The videos load quicker, play much smoother, and the quality is much higher. But you can't shoot video with the iPhone. Even if you could, there's no way to upload it to YouTube, which leaves the application only half realized.

Conversely, Helio, LG, and Samsung are taking mobile YouTube all the way.

Helio, the MVNO that is a partnership between SK Telecom and EarthLink, has made access to mobile YouTube easier. Helio subscribers now have the ability to upload videos shot with Helio devices to a YouTube account with only two clicks. The service is free of charge for Helio All-In Members and opens YouTube to near-real-time publishing, freeing people from their PCs so experiences can be shared as they happen. Helio operates over Sprint's 3G network.

"Helio is one of the most innovative mobile services in the business today, and by partnering with them we help further our vision of bringing originally created videos to mobile devices," said Chad Hurley, CEO and co-founder, YouTube. "We're particularly excited about the direct upload feature and look forward to working together to bring the best YouTube experience to Helio's members."

LG said it is going to launch new 3G handsets optimized for YouTube sometime later this year for customers in Europe. The handsets will have a client that lets users shoot video and upload it directly to YouTube.

"People want to be able to capture interesting moments with their cell phones wherever they are and whenever they want," said Steve Chen, co-founder and CTO for YouTube. "We’re excited to be partnering with LG to give people the opportunity to enjoy YouTube for watching and sharing those moments." LG has not announced any carrier partners for these handsets yet.

Finally, Samsung will be dropping a new YouTube-optimized handset in Europe by the end of the month. The Samsung phone will also allow people to shoot video and upload it directly to YouTube. It is partnering with O2 in Germany as well as carriers in other countries to launch the phone.

Helio, LG, and Samsung have better end-to-end YouTube offerings than Apple's iPhone. And they all also have 3G networks backing them up, rather than AT&T's 2.5G Edge network. The question is, will Apple release an update to the iPhone that: 1. Allows people to shoot video, and 2. Adds a client that lets users upload their videos to YouTube so that it will be on par with other services?

Steve?

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