Google's decided that India needs its very own YouTube, so
has cooked up something called “YouTube Go” that permits peer-to-peer video
sharing.
Details of the new app are sketchy, but the bits aimed at
India are the ability to preview videos before downloading them and advance
warning of file sizes. Vids can be saved to a device's storage .
There's also a promised feature allowing the ability to “Share
videos with family and friends without using data”.
And all that will be offered to Indians first: the other 5.5
billion of us have of us have to wait.
Google's signup page features screen shots of YouTube
listing Bollywood movies and a biopic about M.S. Dhoni, a national hero for his
feats as captain of India's cricket team*. The announcement of the service
explains it's the result of "testing prototypes with hundreds of people
across 15 cities." The service has therefore been designed to work under
difficult network conditions, even 2G, that many Indians experience.
Google's trying to show Indians a good time by making it
easier to watch stuff they like, in the process acculturating them to YouTube
as the place to find the content they desire.
That's a rather different approach to Facebook's seeming
mission to civilise India with its Free Basics plan.
