SAN FRANCISCO, June 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- In
keynote remarks at the 2012 Apple Worldwide Developer's Conference
(WWDC) on June 11,
Apple announced that the next versions of Apple's OS X desktop
operating system and iOS mobile operating system will integrate
with services from Youku Inc. (NYSE:YOKU), China's leading Internet television company
("Youku"), to enable users to quickly and easily share videos to
the web.
China accounted for 24% of iOS
and Android device activations worldwide in February 2012, more than any other country in the
world, according to figures from mobile analytics firm Flurry.
Apple's addition of support for video-sharing to Youku and Tudou
comes as part of updates intended to solidify and expand the
company's share of the China
market, which constitutes Apple's second-largest market after the
United States. Youku and Tudou entered into an agreement and
plan of merger in March 2012
and are working towards completing the merger as soon as
possible.
"Ever since Youku announced the 'Year of Paike' in 2007, our
slogan has been that Youku's Paike video bloggers are everywhere,"
said Youku CTO Jian Yao. "Thanks to
our new partnership with Apple on video-sharing in iOS 6 and OS X
Mountain Lion, that's now truer than ever before."
iOS 6, which Apple said will be released this fall, will also
add support for Chinese voice recognition through Siri, as well as
greatly improved Chinese text input and handwriting recognition.
The update will deepen iOS' integration with China-native web services, as will OS X
Mountain Lion, the next version of Apple's desktop operating
system, to be released in July.
About Youku
Youku 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 Communications
Youku Inc.
Tel: +86-10-5885-1881 x7128
Email: shaodan@youku.com
Investor Relations:
Ryan Cheung
Corporate Finance Director
Youku Inc.
Tel: +86-10-5885-1881 x6090
Email: ryan.cheung@youku.com
SOURCE Youku Inc.