The last few days leading to the launch of the new iPhone has shown some impressive moves by Apple. Apple said that the iPhone would feature up to eight hours of talk time, six hours of Internet use, and seven hours of video playback or twenty-four hours of audio playback. In addition, this week Apple announced that the entire top surface of iPhone, including its 3.5-inch display, has been upgraded from plastic to optical-quality glass providing scratch resistance and optical clarity. Keeping the ball rolling Apple just announced that YouTube would be available on the iPhone starting with the first day of launch.
The official statement from Apple states that, “users will be able to enjoy YouTube’s originally-created content on their iPhones when they begin shipping on June 29th. A new Apple-designed application on iPhone will wirelessly stream YouTube’s content to iPhone over Wi-Fi or EDGE networks and play it on iPhone’s stunning 3.5 inch display.”
Apple said that in order to achieve higher video quality and longer battery life on mobile devices, YouTube has begun encoding their videos in the advanced H.264 format, and iPhone will be the first mobile device to use the H.264-encoded videos. Recall an earlier M&C story where YouTube’s mobile site launch was announced.
“YouTube is taking advantage of technology they started with when the site launched. Using the 3GP format to stream over RSTP instead of HTTP the format is designed to decrease storage and bandwidth requirements in order to accommodate mobile phones. 3GP is a simple version of the MPEG4 (MP4) format, for the technically inclined out there, storing video streams in either MP4 Part 2 or MP4 Part 10. If you notice as you use the new site, on GSM based phones the files are *.3gp or 3GPP format. On CDMA based phones it is 3GPP2 or *.3g2 format.” -- YouTube launches mobile site M&C Tech News
While Apple mentions the technology used by YouTube as H.264 they are really using the technical name for 3GP. H.264 is a standard for video compression, also known as MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC (for Advanced Video Coding). The format allows for high quality compression, and as Apple said, it will lower bandwidth usage, and extend the life of the battery. As more media outlets switch over to 3GP or 3GPP, the video streaming to mobile devices will come faster, and use fewer resources than they do today. Apple’s iPhone users will access the YouTube site on their new URL: http://m.youtube.com .
Another advantage of the compression used by YouTube is that AppleTV users will get the same features, and ability to watch the user created content on their home TV’s. Users can download a software update using Apple TV’s software update feature, and then easily navigate through YouTube’s familiar video browsing categories or search for specific videos.
“iPhone delivers the best YouTube mobile experience by far,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Now users can enjoy YouTube wherever they are—on their iPhone, on their Mac or on a widescreen TV in their living room with Apple TV.”
The opening cost of the phone is $499 to $599 for the 4GB and 8GB models respectively. AT&T is expected to hold some special promos at launch, but confirmed details are scarce on the AT&T websites.
**Update**
AT&T has confirmed that the iPhone will be available in all 1,800 AT&T phone stores at 6 p.m. sharp on June 29, according to an interview with USA Today. "We fully expect one or more of our stores to run out of stock on the first or second day — my guess is the first day," says Larry Carter, senior vice president of sales for AT&T, the iPhone's exclusive U.S. distributor.
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