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Popular video sharing site, YouTube, has launched a new portal to make some of its content viewable on a wide variety of mobile phones and smartphones. It is also in the processes of re-formatting its entire catalog for viewing on the iPhone.

Videos posted to YouTube’s new mobile portal, called YouTube Mobile of course, are encoded in the common 3GPP video standard rather than the Flash format used on YouTube's standard Web site. This means all WAP 2.0 devices, which includes many of today's mobile handsets, with a 3GPP video player included should be able to view the videos at YouTube Mobile.

YouTube Mobile isn't YouTube parent company Google's first mobile play for its video service property—last fall, the search giant partnered with Verizon Wireless to give the carrier's V Cast customers access to a selection of YouTube videos from their cell phones—nor is it the last.

Live today on Apple TV, after users perform a free software upgrade using Apple TV's built-in update feature, YouTube is currently in process of re-encoding its entire catalog of clips into the H.264 format also supported by the iPhone, which isn't compatible with the video site’s Flash video format.

The H.264 codec is supposed to allow YouTube to achieve higher video quality and longer battery life on mobile devices. And, not surprisingly - as Apple and Google appear to be best buddies lately - the iPhone will be the first mobile device to be able to view YouTube's newly H.264-encoded videos.

Apple and YouTube expect 10,000 videos to be available at the time of the iPhone's launch on June 29th, with new H.264-encoded clips added on a weekly basis until the entire YouTube catalog has been converted, a process Apple says will be completed by the fall.

With a new Apple-designed application on the iPhone, users will be able to wirelessly stream YouTube's content over either Wi-Fi or AT&T's EDGE network for viewing on the device's 3.5-inch display. No doubt the much wider Wi-Fi connection will deliver the better performance.

For its part, AT&T (Cingular) is in the process of fine-tuning its 2.5G EDGE network under the name ‘Operation Fine Edge’ to boost minimum data transfer speeds from 40kbps to 80kbps. It’s beefing up the backend by increasing the number of T-1 lines at the carrier's poorest performing cellular towers.

Sure, it is still a long way from 3G—AT&T's 3G network averages between 400 and 700kbps—but any improvement should be welcome. And while the iPhone is the catalyst for the upgrade, all EDGE-enabled cell phones and smartphones will benefit from the boost in performance.

When you first enter m.youtube.com, YouTube smartly warns that because YouTube Mobile is a data intensive application, you should "upgrade to an unlimited data plan with your mobile service provider to avoid additional charges."

This warning applies to any cell phone or smartphone user, including those expecting to get an iPhone, who plan on using their device heavily for any type of multimedia streaming, file downloading or Web access through any carrier’s cellular-data network.

Paying by the kilobyte or megabyte can get very expensive very fast.

AT&T will be the exclusive provider of the iPhone for the next five years. When the iPod/smartphone hybrid goes on sale later this month (at 6:00 pm local time), the 4GB model will go for $499 and the 8GB model $599 with a two-year contract.