Microsoft complies with some of Google’s terms, updates YouTube app for Windows Phone 8

Ron

About two weeks ago, Microsoft rolled out a brand new YouTube app for Windows Phone 8. The app received much heat due to the fact that the app had the ability to skip ads and download videos, a violation of Google/YouTube’s terms of use.

Eventually, Google caught wind of this and issued a ‘cease and desist’ letter to the software giant, urging them to remove the YouTube app from the Windows Phone Store. Microsoft responded to that letter stating that the software giant was “more than happy” to comply but Google needed to be more flexible with providing the necessary APIs.

Microsoft has now rolled out another update to the YouTube app for Windows Phone 8, complying to most of Google’s requests, but not all of them. The update no longer allows you to download videos, but you can still avoid seeing advertisements.

Microsoft issued a statement to ZDNet about the issue claiming that the software giant has been in contact with Google and believes that both parties can “work together” to create a better app. You can read the full statement below.

“Microsoft updated the Windows Phone YouTube app to address the restricted video and offline video access concerns voiced by Google last week. We have been in contact with Google and continue to believe that our two companies can work together to hone an app that benefits our mutual customers, partners and content providers. We’re earning new customers every day, with IDC reporting recently that Windows Phone posted the largest year-over-year gain among leading operating systems. We look forward to working with Google to maintain a great YouTube experience for the growing number of people who rely on both of our respective products,” Microsoft stated.

Now we await Google’s response to this update.