A team from Google’s internal incubator, Area 120, wants to make YouTube a more social experience by launching a new ioS-only app called Uptime.
Hitting the Apple App store today, Uptime lets users meet friends, share and watch YouTube videos, as well as add stickers, emojis and comments in real time, similar to Facebook Live. However, because it's not as fully formed as YouTube, Uptime lacks some of YouTube's basic features. Currently, you can't record a video to the app, you can only search for and watch YouTube videos that already exist. There's also no private messaging function.
Uptime is only available on iOS for now, and Android users have been left in the dark as to whether they'll see a launch. This is more than a little strange, considering where the app was developed.
The move from Google to better engage its YouTube users comes on the back of a study published by eMarketer last year, which claimed that Facebook is seeing big returns on its investment. The report revealed that, as of November 2016, more US internet users say they have watched live video on Facebook than on any other platform, with Facebook surpassing YouTube, claiming a 17 per cent share to YouTube’s 16 per cent.
Area 120 was created last year to allow Google’s internal teams to create new ventures. The incubator allows employees to work on personal projects full time, and is seen as an attempt to prevent talented Google employees from moving to other companies.
Before Area 120, the Alphabet subsidiary allowed employees to work on "20 per cent projects" – personal projects they can work on during a fifth of their working day. Successful 20 per cent projects have included services like Google News, AdSense and Gmail.
While Alphabet reported quarterly earnings that missed analysts' estimates in January, the firm posted revenues of $26.06 billion, topping expectations. Chief financial officer Ruth Porat said the growth was led by YouTube and mobile search.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
