Helio launches most complete YouTube Experience

LOS ANGELES, CA — December 12, 2007 — Today, Helio announced the most comprehensive YouTubeTM experience currently offered on mobile. On most mobile services, YouTube has been limited to a passive viewing experience without access to popular community and personalization features which have made YouTube such a huge success on the Web. Current YouTube offerings designed for mobile don’t let users “log in” and as a result, core YouTube features like rating and access to personal videos have only been available through the PC.

Those limitations are a thing of the past with the launch of Helio’s exclusive YouTube application. Available for Helio Ocean users at no additional charge and running over a nationwide high-speed 3G network, the custom application is complete with integrated video capture and upload for near real-time sharing of experiences, GPS tagging of videos, personalization and access to community features like rating and commenting on videos, all available for the first time in one place on mobile. Designed to work seamlessly with Helio Ocean, the YouTube application is another way Helio gives its members untethered access to their content and their friends.

“Accessing YouTube while on the go has been limited to browsing and viewing, without the rating, sharing and personalization features that have made YouTube a runaway hit on the Web,” said Sky Dayton, CEO of Helio. “Helio is taking mobile YouTube beyond anything else on the market, letting members view tens of millions of videos but also giving them true community interaction comparable to the Web and even beyond the Web.”

“Helio has taken the mobile YouTube experience to the next level,” said Chad Hurley, CEO and co-founder, YouTube. “This innovative application offers people even more customization and provides them with instant access to interact with the YouTube community whenever and wherever they go.”

Shoot, Share and Geo-Tag Videos
Helio members can browse and upload previously saved videos or record videos in the application and upload them directly to YouTube, sharing experiences in near real-time with friends, family and the YouTube community. Uploaded videos can be given a title, description, tags, category and be set to public or private. Only Helio allows members to also geo-tag video uploads from their mobile device. Using Ocean’s built-in GPS capabilities, members can send GPS coordinates with their video to track where they were when everything went down.