Metrotube app to be discontinued on January 1st

Many people use their smartphones for YouTube video access, and Windows Phone owners are no exception. A developer by the name of Lazyworm released an application for YouTube on WP7, offering a Metro UI for the world's most popular video streaming service. As WPCentral reports though, the application is set to be discontinued in the near future.

The official explanation from the developer was sent as a PDF (which can be read here) to customers that had purchased Metrotube, and it reads as follows:

"We are extremely saddened to announce that as of the 1st of January 2012, our applications ‘Metrotube’ and ‘YouTube’ will no longer be available for download from the Windows Phone Marketplace.

YouTube’s current API does not have any documented methods for obtaining high quality video content. We have been using a workaround to obtain this content and it has recently come to our attention that this may not be sustainable in the long term, hence our decision to stop distributing the apps.

The apps should remain functional for those who have already installed them however we will be unable to push out any further updates. Of course, you can also continue accessing YouTube videos directly through your web browser."

Citing Google's lack of support for WP7, Lazyworm has chosen to take the easy route out of development since their app can no longer be maintained. It is quite saddening to see a unique project such as Metrotube being taken down but due to the nature of the internet it is unlikely that the app will fully disappear since people will likely begin to distribute it using certain file-hosting websites. Metrotube's official website does not show any change to their overall aim for the application, though WP7 phone owners may want to download the application now if they do not already have it.

Metrotube became one of the most popular applications for accessing video on the WP7 platform, and it is easy to see why. The UI obeys the conventions of Microsoft's Metro design language and manages to fit all of the features into the design as well. If YouTube becomes more friendly towards the WP7 platform there could be a chance of Lazyworm resuming development of Metrotube but until then, the official YouTube app and other developers may be the only available options.