In a move predicted last year by Steve Chen, one of the YouTube’s co-founders, the online video sharing site announced today new features and an expanded access. All that is required is a streaming capable (RTSP) phone as well as a 3G operator.

According to YouTube’s estimates there are 100 million devices worldwide that should be able to access to expanded mobile service.

With the new version of YouTube For Mobile, the users will have access to the same features offered by the Web version. This include access to their YouTube accounts, Favorites, Videos, Channels as well as the ability to directly upload from mobile devices and share videos instantly. Users also will now have the ability to rate and comment on videos directly from their mobile phones.

YouTube is also offering YouTube for Mobile via a free downloadable Java application for a limited number of mobile phones, giving users a more interactive experience. Currently in beta and available in US and UK English, the application offers another way to access YouTube for Mobile. At this time, the YouTube for Mobile application is supported only on J2ME (Java) MIDP2 devices with streaming video capabilities. YouTube for Mobile will be available in 17 countries and 11 languages.

Last week, comScore Video Metrix report for November 2007 concluded that more than 75 percent of U.S. Internet users watched a video online (including both streaming video and progressive downloads), averaging 3.25 hours of video per person during the month.

The research company said that Google Sites, YouTube included, have increased its video market share by more than two percentage points to 31.3 percent from October to November.

Americans viewed nearly 9.5 billion online videos in November, with YouTube and Google Video once again ranking as the top U.S. video property with 3 billion videos viewed. (2,9 billions for YouTube)

Google Sites are distantly followed by Fox Interactive Media, which ranked second with only 419 million videos viewed. Yahoo! Video has managed to gain the third spot with 328 million viewed.