Google Inc (GOOG) Wants Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) to Build a Better Browser

What’s really going on here?
Here’s what I think is happening. Google and YouTube are legitimately interested in making HTML5 the gold standard for YouTube viewing. So it’s a bad idea to introduce brand new apps on a deprecated, obsolete coding platform.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) objects that Android and iOS apps still don’t use the HTML5 standard. But I fully expect them to, and soon. The old apps built on native Android and iOS code is just grandfathered in until their replacements are ready for prime time.

Here’s one fact to support this view: The browser-based YouTube site is slowly making the transition as we speak.

HTML5 viewing has long been available as an experimental add-on. But it wasn’t fully compatible with video ads. Even if you signed up for that experiment, you’d still often get kicked out to the standard model using the Flash browser plugin.

Now, YouTube has quietly implemented a fresh HTML5 framework if you’re using Google’s Chrome browser to view the site. The new model loads the next video faster and ad features seem to work across the board now. This is no longer an opt-in lab feature but the new standard. It’s not everywhere yet but that’s just temporary.

What’s next?
So I expect this model to saturate the entire YouTube ecosystem in short order, starting with a deeper cross-platform browser experience and then followed by mobile apps that take advantage of the basic website’s code. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) may have to make fundamental changes to its mobile Internet Explorer browser to keep up. I think it’s about supporting Google’s WebM and VP8 digital video technologies, which are kind of a big deal for Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and not supported at all by Microsoft.

In other words, this boils down to Google wanting to simplify the entire YouTube ecosystem, leveraging its preferred video technologies in the process. If Microsoft wants a fully featured Windows Phone app for the new paradigm, the company will eventually have to play ball with Google’s fundamental technology demands.

The article Google Wants Microsoft to Build a Better Browser originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Anders Bylund.

Fool contributor Anders Bylund owns shares of Google, but he holds no other position in any company mentioned. Check out Anders’ bio and holdings, or follow him on Twitter and Google+.The Motley Fool recommends Google and owns shares of Google and Microsoft.

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