NY: iPhone owners who download the next generation of software for their handsets later this year may be in for a surprise.
The YouTube app, which they have become accustomed to seeing since the very first iPhone came on to the market in 2007, will no longer be there.
It means iPhone customers will have to access YouTube via an internet browser rather than being able to tap into it immediately via an app.
Apple has already removed the app from its latest beta version of iOS 6 software and it will not exist at all when iOS 6 is officially released to the public later this year, the website Gizmodo reported.
In a statement, Apple said it had made the change because its licence to use the app in iOS had ended.
Google is understood to be working on a new YouTube app of its own which would finally replace Apple's native app and be available from the App Store, where users can download a host of applications for their handsets.
The Apple statement read: 'Our license to include the YouTube app in iOS has ended, customers can use YouTube in the Safari browser and Google is working on a new YouTube app to be on the App Store.'
Casey Chan wrote on Gizmodo: 'With the iPhone no longer offering an app for YouTube and YouTube being owned by Google, it's more evidence that the two companies want to kill one another but in all honesty, this is a good thing for users.'
Earlier this year, Google launched a new version of its YouTube app for its Google TV web-TV system - a move designed to bring the video sharing service into people's living rooms.
The new app comes with 'Channel' pages and also has a 'discover' button that lets users browse clips or shows by genres such as comedy or drama.
