Apple today announced that YouTube will be available both on the Apple TV as well as on the iPhone.
How important is this? Two sides to this. Everyone that slags Apple because there is no keyboard, corporate email (we think), etc. will see this as no big deal. But who cares about those people? Seriously, they are the PC character in the Mac and PC ads. They don’t think its important to have any features on a device that makes it fun to use.
I use a Blackberry Pearl every day and have used a Win Mobile device. The Blackberry is great at…email. Nothing else. Wait - one more thing - SMS messages. If you need to type it you cant beat the experience.
But if you need to go beyond that, it is really lacking. The people who are happy that YouTube is available on iPhone are the same ones who think that MySpace or Facebook are vital to what they experience on the Internet. Neither one of those is usable on my Blackberry even if I do have a keyboard. Why - because the rest of the experience is like going to the dentist - PAINFUL.
So in and of itself YouTube isn’t that big of a deal, but it signals the way this device will be used and who will use it. Really if only 1 per cent the audience that uses YouTube or Facebook or Myspace decided that they needed to have an iPhone, that wouldn’t be too bad for sales would it?