[washingtondc]

While a mobile app can certainly deliver a rich user experience, the availability of a standard, universally supported platform (read: a browser) is a more sustainable approach to application deployment.

We've been down this road before. In the pre-browser era, desktop application were king, but at a high cost to IT departments as well as end-users. The same game is being played out on mobile platforms now.

From a business perspective, do you really want to support multiple development efforts for each and every mobile platform? Will it be worth it in the long run?

The advantages of the mobile app platform must be balanced with the cost and maintenance overhead as well. Give me a great browser platform, and I'll gladly take its shortcomings over the long-term sustainment costs of a dedicated mobile app.

[bdclimber14]

As a customer though, what would you prefer? That was my main point is that the customer demand is really heavy on native apps.

Evernote is an example of a successful startup that has native apps for every major platform, and they consider it a strategic decision.

[shantanubala]

Only 37Signals is a B2B company that has a lot of customers that are developers. They have an API. Their source of income is their subscription and not apps for native platforms.

In other words, many of their customers who want a native app can scratch their own itch pretty easily, and 37Signals can cut down their own development efforts and focus on making their platform better.

The reason Evernote has apps for every platform is simple: that's the only thing they have going for them. Their interface isn't the best, and there are tons of other ways to save notes. They just happen to have really good cross-device integration. Other note-taking tools have users for different reasons.

I agree with 37Signals. App Stores are an obsolete concept that are only making a comeback because we have a new wave of devices without a solid set of mature cross-platform development tools.

EDIT: In other words, 37Signals wants to differentiate themselves from other applications in more unique ways than just "works natively on every device."

[bobfunk]

Honestly, as a customer I'm getting tired of having to install apps for everything I use, I'm getting tired of something not having the app on my Droid because it's only for iPhone and so on...

I think the HTML5/JS approach still has a way to go before the user experience will really catch up to native apps, and for some apps it will never happen. But the same could be said for desktop apps vs webapps and we all know how that turned out...

[jarek]

As a customer I prefer an application that works on whichever device I feel like using this week.