Given the history Apple has for removing Google apps, it's perhaps no surprise the latter is focusing on providing web app versions of its services where possible.

However, the most interesting aspect of the latest update to YouTube's HTML5-enabled mobile site – currently rolling out at m.youtube.com – is that it appears to be superior to Apple's native iPhone app.

Poles apart

The new web app was detailed during a presentation at YouTube’s headquarters this week, with product manager Andrey Doronichev running both offerings side by side.

According to reports, not only was the web app quicker to load, but it also offers an experience more coherent with YouTube's standard web presence – the five star rating system YouTube abandoned at the start of the year still present in the native app, for instance.

"[The updated web app] incorporates the features and functionality you've come to expect from the .com site, like search query suggestions, the options to create playlists, the ability to designate 'favorite,' 'like' or 'unlike' videos directly from your device," Doronichev claims in a blog post detailing its launch.

I heart HTML5

The most wounding blow to Jobs and co., however, is the quality of the HTML5 videos themselves.

According to Dorochichev, the iPhone app – which is maintained by Apple itself, rather than Google – was designed to stream videos via Edge, not 3G. As such, videos look crisper and load in faster on the web app.

As Steve has constantly told us, HTML5 is the future, but instead of hitting Adobe over the head with the argument, this time it's rebounded to smack Apple in the chops. 

The Register reports the difference in practice is just as stark as Dorochichev hints at, with the HTML5 features incorporated into the web app – such as video tagging – combining with the overall video quality to offer a more contemporary experience.



Wonder of the web

Google believes the web app will become the default way iPhone users interact with the site in the future, even prompting users to add a link to the site on their home screen and demonstrating you don't need to go via the App Store to gain the eyeballs of iOS users. 

Indeed, this is especially sneaky as the icon looks exactly like an app that's been downloaded from the App Store. 

As such, Google is aiming to draw consumers away from standard apps in favour of using their web-based variants, with the YouTube web app opening the door to an array of mobile advertising opportunities in Dorochichev's view.

"YouTube Mobile now receives more than 100 million video playbacks a day," he adds in the blog post.

"This is roughly the number of daily playbacks that YouTube.com was streaming when we joined forces with Google in 2006."

Whether Apple will redevelop the native app to compete with Google's smooth use of HTML5 will be something to perk interest in the coming months.

[source: TechCrunch]