YouTube rolls out new version of iPhone app

SAN FRANCISCO —

Google Inc is releasing a new version of its YouTube video app for iPhones that will for the first time feature advertising but won’t have the benefit of being pre-loaded on Apple Inc’s popular smartphones. The new YouTube app will be available for download at Apple’s App Store.

Web-connected smartphones are increasingly important to YouTube’s business. One billion of YouTube’s daily video views now occur on mobile devices, said Google. YouTube said it was streaming 4 billion videos every day.

The new YouTube app for the iPhone will feature thousands of additional videos, according to the blog post, as well as improved features for finding videos and sharing videos on social networks. Unlike the previous version of the YouTube iPhone app, the new version will feature online advertising.

The relationship between Google and Apple has frayed over the years, as the shift from PCs to mobile devices has increased the competition between the two companies. Earlier this year, Apple said it would dump Google’s mapping software from its mobile devices.

YouTube has been among a handful of apps that came pre-loaded onto the screens of Apple’s mobile devices since the original iPhone was introduced in 2007. YouTube was the third most popular iPhone app by users, including both pre-installed apps and downloaded apps, in the U.S. in June.

Google said it was working on a version of the YouTube app specially-designed for iPads, which should be available in the coming months.