[eftpotrm]

But so much of the beauty of the Internet is its portable ubiquity; I can write a website once and it's available in much the same format to Windows, MacOS, Unix, iOS, Android.... you name it. Whereas in the mobile world we're seeing _millions_ spent on creating what are essentially platform-specific mobile data clients in parallel versions. They're barely even superior to what's possible with HTML now. This is madness.

[redial]

A lot of people are making the same mistake in this thread. the web != the internet. By focusing only on the web you are leaving out other great, open technologies that helped the internet become ubiquitous. IRC, FTP, VoIP, IM, USENET, just to name a few.

Yes, HTML is a big part of the internet, maybe even the biggest, but its not the only one.

[glhaynes]

They're barely even superior to what's possible with HTML now.

If this were really the case — not just in a spec-sheet way but in a user experience way — why are all these companies making apps?

[notahacker]

Obviously there are native app advantages to the end user beyond that, particularly given the slowness of 3G internet and the ease of making payments via the App Store. In many cases though its simply the same reason they also have Facebook fan pages and once had AOL keywords - branding.

Steve Jobs even started extolling the virtues of Apple's ability to "bring subscribers" to digitl publishers, and going by their latest announcement, Apple themselves regard their platform as being worth 30% of the value of the content, even to those who would rather process payments themselves.

It remains to be seen how far consumers and creators agree.

[mcav]

Because customers can buy apps in one click, so they do.

If webapps had the same payment/installation procedure, they'd take off like a rocket too. (Given HTML5's local caching and the like.)

[othermaciej]

I'd love if it that was true, but the evidence isn't really there.

For instance, Chrome Web Store offers a payment/installation for web apps, and it doesn't seem to be taking off like a rocket.

[loewenskind]

If people are using apps because they make more money with them, then what is your basis for claiming web apps are superior?

[eftpotrm]

Beats me; so often IME it's true though. There've even been cases where I've installed the app and found I preferred the company's mobile website so used that instead.