Tim Cook


See you later, Google.


The war between Apple and Google just went up another notch.

Apple won't include the YouTube app as a default app on iOS.

Google will have to develop its own version of the application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

Users will still be able to watch YouTube videos on iOS devices, they'll just have to do it through the mobile web.

Mark Gurman at 9 To 5 Mac was the first we saw to report the YouTube app was missing from iOS 6, which is the latest version of iOS. (It's available as a Beta for developers to test.)

Apple tells John Paczkowski of All Things D: "Our license to include the YouTube app in iOS has ended."

So, perhaps Apple didn't boot YouTube. Perhaps, Google decided to leave iOS.

However, Apple has been actively removing Google from iOS. It replaced Google Maps with Apple maps. It took away "Google" from the search box and replaced it with "Search." Removing YouTube would be the next logical step.

Apple hasn't done much with the YouTube app since it was first rolled out, so this could be a blessing for people that like YouTube videos. A fresh YouTube app that gets updates from Google could be an improvement.

Or, as Peter Kafka at All Things D points out, Google has an open API, so a third-party developer could make a great YouTube app.

For what it's worth, Kafka believes the YouTube app is going away because Google wants to roll more ads. Apple's default app was ad-free.