More YouTube on More Phones

YouTube has launched a new mobile version of its video sharing service that should work on devices used by up to 100 million phone users around the world.

Online video sharing site YouTube is hoping to make a big push into mobile phones, aiming to get “the full YouTube experience” onto mobile devices used by more than 100 million mobile phone users worldwide, rather than just the handful of devices that offer mobile YouTube access today. The new service, available online at m.youtube.com is available in 16 countries other than the U.S., and is already up and running in 10 languages. The service offers features found on the full Web-based version of YouTube, including the ability to rate clips and share videos with friends.

Currently, a limited version of YouTube is available on phones from Verizon and Vodaphone, and (of course) the Apple iPhone offers direct access to YouTube, along with MVNO Helio. Hoever, YouTube says many phones currently supporting the limited version of YouTube on Verizon will not work with the new service, and they didn’t know when or if that would change.

YouTube does not currently charge anything for the service, and hasn’t planned how it will earn money on the service, preferring to focus instead on building a user base and gaining “mindshare” and momentum. YouTube is owned by Google; Google typically introduces advertising to support otherwise free services.