Apple cans YouTube app in iOS 6

iPad

Apple has confirmed the next version of its iOS mobile operating system will not feature a pre-loaded YouTube app, as the firm continues to distance itself from arch-rival Google.

The consumer electronics giant released a preview version of its iOS 6 software earlier this week that did not feature the app. The software has been a common feature on Apple devices since the launch of the first iPhone in 2007.

In a statement to Reuters, Apple said it had dumped the app because its licensing deal with Google, who acquired YouTube in 2006, had come to an end.

"Customers can use YouTube in the Safari browser and Google is working on a new YouTube app to be on the app store," the statement added.

Apple's decision to axe the app comes less than two months after the firm announced that Google Maps would not feature in iOS 6 at its Worldwide Developer Conference.

Instead, iPhone and iPad users will have access to a new mapping service developed by Apple.

Apple's iOS6 software is expected to go on general release in the autumn.

Caroline Donnelly is the news and analysis editor of IT Pro and its sister site Cloud Pro, and covers general news, as well as the storage, security, public sector, cloud and Microsoft beats. Caroline has been a member of the IT Pro/Cloud Pro team since March 2012, and has previously worked as a reporter at several B2B publications, including UK channel magazine CRN, and as features writer for local weekly newspaper, The Slough and Windsor Observer. She studied Medical Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at PMA Training in 2006.