Youku Releases Revamped iPhone Client

BEIJING, Oct. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Youku.com Inc. (NYSE: YOKU), China's leading Internet television company ("Youku"), recently released a major update to its category-leading iOS client for iPhone and iPod Touch handsets. The new version of the Youku app features a radically streamlined interface that puts Youku's large and comprehensive content library directly at users' fingertips.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111011/CN84010 )

Youku released the first version of its iPhone app in March 2010. As of the end of July 2011, Youku software clients and widgets had been pre-installed on approximately 22.9 million Internet-enabled mobile phones in China. Youku clients for iPhone and iPad had been installed by an estimated 6.2 million and 1.7 million users as of September 24, 2011, respectively, making both the #1 online video apps in the Chinese iTunes app store.

Youku iPhone App 2.0 sports a radial menu interface that minimizes complexity and reduces screen clutter. Users can swipe horizontally through customizable video listings, which refresh continuously, and can even browse videos while they watch other videos using a new picture-in-picture feature. 

Other updates to the client focus on building user engagement and interaction. Budding programs such as Youku Paike -- video bloggers – allows users to record and upload videos from their phones, and viewers can log in to their Youku accounts to post comments and interact with other viewers. Actions taken by a user -- for example, commenting on or favoriting a video -- will sync automatically among the user's PCs and mobile devices that have installed Youku clients.

The client also uses Youku's Soku search engine for smarter, more accurate video search, and ties into other Web 2.0 services like Sina Weibo for easy video sharing. Unlike previous versions of the mobile Youku client, which offered access to a limited subset of Youku's video library, the new client allows mobile users to watch, search, share, and comment on almost all of the videos in Youku's content library, subject to licensing restrictions.

"With the latest version of our iOS client, we took what we've learned about user interaction from previous versions and built a more intuitive client that has more features," said Youku's CTO, Jian Yao. "Youku is determined to offer best-in-class services on all Internet-enabled devices. Mobile is a key part of Youku's long-term strategy, and we're making sure that we offer a mobile experience that does justice to our library of free and premium content."

The new version of the iPhone app comes on the heels of updates to Youku's iPad and Android clients over the summer. The updated clients offer a unified user interface across multiple platforms, reinforcing Youku's platform-independent, device-independent nature, and are intended to lay a foundation for the development of future cross-platform interaction between PCs, tablets, and mobile handsets.

The free app can be downloaded at http://itunes.apple.com/cn/app/id336141475?l=en&mt=8.

About Youku:

Youku.com Inc. is China's leading Internet television company. Our Internet television platform enables users to search, view and share high-quality video content quickly and easily across multiple devices. Youku, which stands for "what's best and what's cool" in Chinese, is the most recognized online video brand in China. Youku's American depositary shares, each representing 18 of our Class A ordinary shares, are traded on NYSE under the symbol "YOKU."

For more information, please contact:

Media Relations:
Jean Shao
Director, International Public Relations
Youku.com Inc.
Tel: +86-10-5885-1881 x7128
Email: [email protected]

Investor Relations:
Ryan Cheung
Corporate Finance Director
Youku.com Inc.
Tel: +86-10-5885-1881 x6090
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Youku.com Inc.