YouTube officially launched a mobile site (m.youtube.com) and a downloadable Java application in January 2008. At that time, it was a breakthrough, allowing users to:

It represents a desire to keep hardware alive that was built to last—phones with batteries that survived a week and keypads that clicked satisfyingly. It is a rebellion against the "disposable tech" era.

However, the community is resilient. While a direct "YouTube App" in Java format is mostly a dead end, alternatives exist: