Verizon <3 YouTube, but bloggers gripe (and gift guides)

Can you hear IT Blogwatch now? Today, we find Verizon and YouTube linking up, to loud derision. Not to mention Computerworld's 2006 Holiday Gift Guide...

Sinead Carew and Yinka Adegoke proffer this missive:

Verizon Wireless said on Tuesday it would deliver selected video clips from YouTube to cell phones starting in December in a bid to increase subscriptions to its mobile media service.YouTube, the leading online video sharing site which was bought by Internet search leader Google Inc. this month, said it hopes to expand beyond computers to phones
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Verizon ... has been betting increasingly on text messaging and advanced services like music and video for growth as phone call prices keep falling. But so far only a small minority of U.S. consumers use features like video on their cell phones. Verizon Wireless hopes the huge popularity of many home videos shown on YouTube could help boost use of its Vcast wireless media service ... 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.

Nicholas Deleon adds:

You won't be paying $15 per month for the YouTube you know and love. Nope, the video service will be a part of V Cast, Verizon's multimedia hub, and won't be a replication of the content you get on the actual YouTube Web site. The videos you'll actually be able to see are ones that have been "selected and approved by the companies...that [have] the broadest appeal and highest entertainment value." Um, isn't that the very definition of censorship? And what are the odds that some of the selected videos you'll see are ads for soap?I would think that the massive popularity of YouTube can be attributed to videos that might not exactly meets Verizon's "editorial and taste" guidelines.
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Google ... and Verizon are just thrilled to be offering us an anemic version of the popular video sharing Web site.

Om Malik:

Despite Verizon network’s superior quality, I refuse to subscribe to them, because their (deck) interface, regardless of the phone, is the mobile equivalent of Chinese water torture. The thought that Verizon would decide what YouTube video gets shown on the mobile makes me shudder.

Om-chum Katie Fehrenbacher:

The deal is big news because the size of the companies involved, but this particular agreement is really just about trying to bring YouTube’s cool-factor branding to Verizon’s expensive and unhip VCast service. There are actually a lot of user-generated mobile video services available both on and off carriers [menus]. They just don’t have YouTube’s big name yet. Here are a few we’ve checked out recently

Thomas Hawk laughs outloud:

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! That's a good one! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Hillarious! Do they really think people will pay them $15 a month? Verizon, the same pig that tried to charge you $1.99 for song downloads on your cell phone plus a $15 a month subscription fee before they killed the $15 a month fee back in August earlier this year?

People hate their cell phone providers. I hate Cingular ... But the other cell phone providers are just as bad. They lock people into long contracts, nickle and dime you to death, give horrible customer service, gouge you ... somehow I'm sure the cell phone company would figure out some way to really charge me $29.99 a month and another $180 when I cancel the service 27 months into my contract. There would be hidden taxes, data minute overages, etc. etc.
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Verizon are a bunch of greedy pigs and just like their excessively priced song downloads this one will flop as well. I'm disappointed that YouTube is involved in this fiasco.

Rafat Ali rolls his eyes:

I am not a fan of such exclusive mobile content deals...in the long run, they end up hurting the market more than growing them.

Natali Del Conte agrees:

The big question here is: What does “select” video mean? The beauty of YouTube is, (or at least has been), that it is so organic. Will corporate video selection mean that users will only have access to approved content? How boring! It may be a lose-win situation in that YouTube videos streamed to the phone will be lame, while videos streamed from the phone to YouTube could be much cooler.

Run, Mathew Ingram, run:

I know that Forrest Gump said “Stupid is as stupid does,” but there’s really no other word for what Verizon is doing with its much-heralded launch of YouTube video on cellphones. I mean, really. How much stupider could this get? ... If this is a sign of the kind of crap Google is going to do now that it owns YouTube, then that $1.6-billion in stock is going to get obliterated pretty quickly.

Adam Frucci:

Pretty lame, Verizon. It's like you guys are stuck in a rut of just always limiting customers choices, always making people jump through your hoops, and you can't break the habit. I, for one, think that's a pretty lousy way of doing business. But I suppose all the dollars you're raking in makes you not really care about giving your customers options. I say phooey to you, Verizon Wireless.

Eric Bangeman tries desperately to find a positive angle:

the tie-in between one of the most popular sites on the Internet and V CAST will no doubt serve as fodder for the Verizon Wireless marketing machine. With the ability to upload videos to YouTube directly from your cell phone, maybe the company's new tagline will be "Can you see me now?"

Buffer overflow:

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• Robert L. Mitchell: Office 2007: Should you stay or should you go?
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Previously in IT Blogwatch

• DMCA exceptions break cover (and sexy geeks)
• 2.0 or not 2.0? That is the question (and new Altair 8800 kit)
• Can't Wii all just get along? (and a testy TSA tale)
• RFID passports pwned (and super slowmo's)
• Microsoft: "Waaah! Linux stole our IP" (and 1337 DVD)
• Older posts

And finally... 2006 Holiday Gift Guide plus Engadget's guides for her and him

Richi Jennings is an independent technology and marketing consultant, specializing in email, blogging, Linux, and computer security. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. Contact Richi at blogwatch@richij.com. BRB...