BEIJING, Oct. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Youku.com Inc.
(NYSE: YOKU), China's leading
Internet television company ("Youku"), recently released a major
update to its category-leading iOS client for iPhone and iPod Touch
handsets. The new version of the Youku app features a radically
streamlined interface that puts Youku's large and comprehensive
content library directly at users' fingertips.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111011/CN84010 )
Youku released the first version of its iPhone app in
March 2010. As of the end of
July 2011, Youku software clients and
widgets had been pre-installed on approximately 22.9 million
Internet-enabled mobile phones in China. Youku clients for iPhone and iPad had
been installed by an estimated 6.2 million and 1.7 million users as
of September 24, 2011, respectively,
making both the #1 online video apps in the Chinese iTunes app
store.
Youku iPhone App 2.0 sports a radial menu interface that
minimizes complexity and reduces screen clutter. Users can swipe
horizontally through customizable video listings, which refresh
continuously, and can even browse videos while they watch other
videos using a new picture-in-picture feature.
Other updates to the client focus on building user engagement
and interaction. Budding programs such as Youku Paike -- video
bloggers – allows users to record and upload videos from their
phones, and viewers can log in to their Youku accounts to post
comments and interact with other viewers. Actions taken by a user
-- for example, commenting on or favoriting a video -- will sync
automatically among the user's PCs and mobile devices that have
installed Youku clients.
The client also uses Youku's Soku search engine for smarter,
more accurate video search, and ties into other Web 2.0 services
like Sina Weibo for easy video sharing. Unlike previous versions of
the mobile Youku client, which offered access to a limited subset
of Youku's video library, the new client allows mobile users to
watch, search, share, and comment on almost all of the videos in
Youku's content library, subject to licensing restrictions.
"With the latest version of our iOS client, we took what we've
learned about user interaction from previous versions and built a
more intuitive client that has more features," said Youku's CTO,
Jian Yao. "Youku is determined to
offer best-in-class services on all Internet-enabled devices.
Mobile is a key part of Youku's long-term strategy, and we're
making sure that we offer a mobile experience that does justice to
our library of free and premium content."
The new version of the iPhone app comes on the heels of updates
to Youku's iPad and Android clients over the summer. The updated
clients offer a unified user interface across multiple platforms,
reinforcing Youku's platform-independent, device-independent
nature, and are intended to lay a foundation for the development of
future cross-platform interaction between PCs, tablets, and mobile
handsets.
The free app can be downloaded at
http://itunes.apple.com/cn/app/id336141475?l=en&mt=8.
About Youku:
Youku.com Inc. is China's
leading Internet television company. Our Internet television
platform enables users to search, view and share high-quality video
content quickly and easily across multiple devices. Youku, which
stands for "what's best and what's cool" in Chinese, is the most
recognized online video brand in China. Youku's American depositary shares,
each representing 18 of our Class A ordinary shares, are traded on
NYSE under the symbol "YOKU."
For more information, please contact:
Media Relations:
Jean Shao
Director, International Public Relations
Youku.com Inc.
Tel: +86-10-5885-1881 x7128
Email: shaodan@youku.com
Investor Relations:
Ryan Cheung
Corporate Finance Director
Youku.com Inc.
Tel: +86-10-5885-1881 x6090
Email: ryan.cheung@youku.com
SOURCE Youku.com Inc.