[nikcub]

html5 will steadily wire up the missing features over the next few years with WebGL, device API workgroup[1], notifications api[2], video and audio tags etc.

the problem is that vendors will have a conflict in implementing those features since they will compete with their native apps and app stores

Apple and Google will need developer pressure to keep them honest, and hopefully give us access to the appstore upside of distribution while writing to just the html5 api

[1] http://www.w3.org/2009/05/DeviceAPICharter

[2] https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/group/chromium-html...

[jbail]

I think Apple and Google can protect their distribution channels and support mobile web as an equal to native.

They can maintain the same approval processes, charge the same fees, and enforce submissions of your mobile apps to the same places if you want inclusion in their app stores.

For mobile web, it could be as simple as compressing a folder of specially named HTML and JS files or providing an absolute URL where the main "executable" HTML file lives.

In the end, Apple and Google can make the same amount of money from mobile apps vs native apps. I don't find many reasons they would care how the app is made (except that maybe they want "exclusive" apps that are only on one platform or the other --- or they want to not include absolute URL mobile web apps because you can submit an app and change it entirely the next day by changing the files on your server...though you could get around this by mandating that your app be submitted as packaged HTML/JS)

[nikcub]

I hope this happens, esp with the solution you outlines where the app is just the html+js+css etc. zipped up into a distro form (is there an open standard for manifest files in this type of distribution of web app?).

The only thing I can see possibly being a concern is UI consistency - web apps are a free-for-all. Apple may release a UI kit

[voidfiles]

The thing google, and apple need to protect is there distribution channel, not there platform. If you lock down your distribution platform you can charge 30% for recurring subscriptions. This incentivizes companies like Apple, and Google to not optimize the experience of packaging, and installing mobile apps over the air. They don't want to hobble there web experience though, as that is something many people do on their phones. Things like WebGL will make it into phones eventually, standards are just slow. Google has already started to implement the Device API in honeycomb.