NICK WYNJA

MG Siegler from TechCrunch:

I just don’t see how WebM could ever win this stand-off. And without Google, H.264 can’t either. And so HTML5 video goes nowhere. And we’re stuck with Flash.

This isn’t about WebM at all. I think this is really more about Google trying to prop up Android. Everyone is talking about lack of hardware support for WebM and transition Android to support WebM; WebM is just an excuse and won’t ship on mobile. One of Android’s “selling points” is that they support the “whole web” through Flash. Especially with Android tablets trying to make some ground, allowing the <video> tag to proliferate lessens the impact of their “but we support Flash” sales model.

Google’s ad impressions (their only goal) aren’t going to decrease by changing video support in Chrome. Though through maintaining their sales pitch, especially in the transition of Android tablets, that they support does Flash they are hoping to continue to gain market share and get more impressions on their ads.

This isn’t about Open, H.264 licensing, or HTML5, it’s about maintaining their stance with Flash to push forward Android’s growing market share.