Verizon Wireless said on Tuesday it will deliver selected video clips from YouTube to cell phones starting in December.
According to the NY Times, YouTube, bought by Google this month, will expand beyond computers to phones. It did not reveal the financial terms of the deal.
So far only a small minority of U.S. consumers use features like video on their cell phones. Verizon Wireless hopes YouTube home videos will help boost use of its Vcast wireless media service.
“Vcast subscribers tend to be higher-value customers in terms of ARPU (average revenue per user) versus traditional voice subscribers,” Chan said. Under the YouTube agreement, consumers who pay a $15 monthly fee for Vcast will be able to use their cell phones to view consumer-generated content posted on YouTube’s Web site.
Chan also said customers would also be able to post videos from their phones to YouTube more easily than before by using a five-digit short code instead of an e-mail address.
[...] I’m trying to see the advantage of this service. Do a lot of people utilize their cellphones’ capabilities? I’ve been sent emails of personal cellphone videos before and have not been impressed by the sound and quality. Furthermore, it has been mentioned that customers will be able to post videos to YouTube from their cellphones. The website further claims that ” … only a small minority of U.S. consumers use features like video on their cell phones.” I’m positive there will be some sort of advertising thrown into the mix as well (yes, even for paying customers). [...]
Left by +/- » YouTube + Verizon = Mobile on November 28th, 2006