• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, September 11, 2012

This summer, news broke that Apple was dropping YouTube from its list of built-in iPhone apps. Firing back, YouTube on Tuesday debuted its own -- new and improved -- iPhone app.

“Though YouTube lost its prominent place on the iPhone’s home screen, it gained something arguably more important: the ability to show mobile ads,” The New York Times’ Bits blog writes.

Indeed, “Because the new app is built in-house by YouTube, it is no longer subject to Apple-enforced restrictions, meaning ads are now fair game,” AppleInsider explains.

“For Google, this means it can now earn some serious coin from mobile visitors,” writes Forbes. “That’s crucial as mobile devices become the default way people are reaching content on the Web.”

“That could more than make up for any revenue that Google made under its previous licensing arrangement with Apple, according to some analysts, although neither company has disclosed terms of that agreement,” notes MercuryNews.com.

Beyond the ad-servicing capability, Gizmodo says YouTube’s new iPhone app is far superior to its previous incarnation. “It's back in a proper way, built by people who actually care about YouTube -- people at Google,” it writes. “The iPhone's original YouTube app was built by Apple -- and then left abandoned and dull.”

That said, “Google will take something of a hit here, because its new app won’t automatically show up in new iPhones, or when iOS users upgrade their software this fall,” according to AllThingsD. “Instead, users will have to manually install the app themselves.”

As The New York Times reports, YouTube plans encourage adoption of its new app with a broad mobile and online marketing campaign.