YouTube to Launch Mobile Site

Google's(GOOG Quote) YouTube will launch a mobile Web site in June in the U.S., GigaOm, a popular technology blog, reported Tuesday afternoon.

Google will debut the mobile site after an exclusivity agreement the search giant has with Verizon(VZ Quote) as part of a deal the two announced in December expires, GigaOm cites a Google representative as saying.

In December, Google and Verizon announced a new service in which the telecom company's users could subscribe to a service that allowed them to view some clips from YouTube's library.

The service will launch in May for European users, and YouTube has already been working closely with cell-phone makers including Nokia(NOK Quote), according to the blog.

Initially, the mobile service will contain about 800 videos selected by YouTube. But the company hopes to eventually make its entire library accessible from mobile devices, the representative told GigaOm.

News of YouTube's expanded service comes at a time when the rivalry between Google and Yahoo!(YHOO Quote) in the burgeoning mobile sector has been heating. Earlier Tuesday, Yahoo! announced that it would again beef up its mobile search service.

YouTube's rapidly growing reservoir of short, entertaining clips well-suited for viewing on mobile devices gives the company an angle it is likely to press more over time.

Shares of Google closed the regular session off $1.38 to $463.62.