Amidst all the news coming out of Google I/O there was another exchange between Google and Microsoft, this time centered around YouTube, the money-making content hub that Google have owned for years now. Microsoft updated their YouTube app for Windows Phone 8 devices last week, and Google are not pleased with it. Not one bit. In fact, they’re so displeased with this new update that they are demanding Microsoft take the app down by May 22nd.

Google have sent a cease and desist to Microsoft demanding they take down the app from their store, The Verge are reporting. It’s easy to dismiss this as yet another spat between the two companies but, it seems like Google have genuine grounds for this current complaint with Microsoft. It’s no secret that Google make pretty much all of their revenue off of ads and YouTube brings in one of the largest audiences on the web. So, by that logic, YouTube is a big money spinner for Google. Well, Microsoft must have a problem with this and so in their latest version of the app, they’ve blocked ads, which Google are saying is not only hurtful to them but also to their third-party content creators.

“Unfortunately, by blocking advertising and allowing downloads of videos, your application cuts off a valuable ongoing revenue source for creators, and causes harm to the thriving content ecosystem on YouTube,”

A lot of famous YouTubers still rely on this sort of revenue to keep their costs down and in some cases, it’s their main income. I doubt that Google has anything wrong with Microsoft making their own YouTube app but, they’ve appearently gone out of their way to make sure that ads are blocked in this latest update, which is not only a problem for Google but, in defiance of their API agreement.

This isn’t the first time that Google and Microsoft have clashed recently, there’s the famously misleading Scroogled campaign from Microsoft and Google’s decision to no longer support ActiveSync for GMail and Calendar. In both cases however, it does seem that Micorosft is the party unwilling to bend. Blocking ads in their YouTube app goes against API regulations and to get GMail and Calendar working on Windows Phone indefinitely, all they need to do is adopt the open CalDAV and CardDAV standards, that even Apple manages to support in iOS.

[Source: The Verge]