[colinplamondon]

I've never, ever seen an HTML5 app that comes even close to being as smooth as a native app. HTML5 is not a comparable option for the foreseeable future.

It's best to build a simple native app for iOS that covers the core of your service, and then an Android app if your audience is particularly likely to have Android phones.

EDIT: Also, the approval process is a non-issue now, it takes a week at most to be approved, and 2-3 days if you email ask them to expedite. The problems with long delays are long over, starting early last year things started improving exponentially.