Google became a $1,000/share company because it believed and invested in mobile technology. Unsurprisingly, one of its properties is also seeing a rise in mobile usage.
Google reported Friday that 40 percent of YouTube traffic comes from mobile devices, according to HNGN Those figures were 6 percent in 2011 and 34 percent in 2012. Exactly what YouTube's owner wants to see.
Hunter Walker, Google's former director of project management, explained in a tweet on a Friday how Google and YouTube capitalized on the mobile world.
Who is the YouTube of mobile & tablets? YOUTUBE! We made early bet & now accts for 40% of traffic. Great job @dobry2000 & team!
— Hunter Walk (@hunterwalk) October 17, 2013
In response to a follower asking Walker to expand on his tweet, specifically how Google made early bets and what specifically it invested in, he replied:
@JoshConstine formed mobile team in 07 ahead of $ or demand, transcoded all videos to mob formats, did deal w Apple for iPhone app
— Hunter Walk (@hunterwalk) October 17, 2013
Walker and Google were prescient in formatting videos for smart phones before demand dictated it.
The deal with Apple refers to iPhones coming with YouTube pre-installed, HNGN reported. A similar deal has recently been in the works with Microsoft. The first YouTube app for the Windows Phone, however, was scratched when it didn't meet Google's standards, according to Tech Crunch.
The next YouTube app will allow users to save videos and watch them offline, according to Tech Crunch.
Tech Crunch noted Facebook has had an even greater mobile presence than YouTube and experienced a sharper increase in mobile usage. Seventy three percent of users accessed Facebook through their phones in 2013, up 17 percent from 2012, according to Facebook's numbers.
