Advertising Age reported yestarday that YouTube is going mobile in a year.  There is some TechCrunch coverage too.  I imagine the long time table is due to the lack of a good and ubiquitous platform for doing video on a phone.  Java is slow and bulky.  Flash lite has little-to-no adoption in the US market.

I wonder if YouTube will have to do a carrier specific deal (like Facebook going on deck with Cingular).  I hope they can find a way to leverage a cross-carrier technology (perhaps MMS) that won’t require joining a particular carrier.

Regardless, if YouTube can find a way to leverage it’s existing videos on a mobile device, this will be highly addictive.

YouTube is great for a 5-10 minute time waster.  It would be perfect for bus stations, fast food lines, and any other place where, currently, I’m checking my email on my blackberry.  I’d much rather be doing something more entertaining during that time, but right now I don’t have a better alternative to email.

I eagerly anticipate this new feature.