Apple announced yesterday that iPhone users will be able to watch YouTube's content on their iPhones when they begin shipping on June 29. A new Apple-designed application on the iPhone will wirelessly stream YouTube's content to iPhone over Wi-Fi or EDGE networks and play it on iPhone's 3.5 inch display.

How appealing is this? Would you watch YouTube videos on your phone? Are users willing to pay the extra fee to have the EDGE service to watch YouTube videos? Does this new feature make the iPhone more attractive, even at a price tag of $499?

Tom Taulli has an interesting write-up at blogging stocks and questions whether this is simply hype. According to Dipanshu Sharma of V-Enable, Apple may be going too far and even "misguiding the consumer" in believing that the YouTube content will stream effortlesly on the EDGE network. It's an interesting viewpoint and worth the read.

In addition, Apple announced that YouTube is now live on Apple TV. Users can download a free software update using Apple TV's update feature, and then navigate through YouTube's video categories or search for specific videos. YouTube members can also log-in to their YouTube accounts on Apple TV to view and save their favorite videos.

To achieve higher video quality and longer battery life, YouTube has begun encoding their videos in H.264 format, and iPhone will be the first mobile device to use the H.264-encoded videos. Around 10,000 videos will be available on June 29, and YouTube will be adding more each week until their full catalog of videos is available in the H.264 format this fall.

iPhone will include the built-in YouTube application when it is available in the US on June 29, 2007 in a 4GB model for $499 and an 8GB model for $599. iPhone will be sold in the US through Apple's retail and online stores, and through AT&T's retail stores.