[petilon]

When you have an app as well as a website, users generally prefer the app because it has a better experience. Even if your website is mobile optimized, users prefer native apps, at least on iOS. I suspect part of the reason is that iOS widgets (at least until iOS 6.x) are more intuitive than HTML. iOS 7 seems to eliminate this advantage, and Apple has given up much of the differentiation. iOS 7 looks closer to Windows Phone and Android, and even web, so it is unclear whether going forward, users will continue to prefer apps over websites by the same margin.

[wahnfrieden]

I'm with you on users generally preferring app versions. It's IMO a huge jump to say that it's because iOS 6 UI is intuitive. Users go through a lot of training, more than they may realize: friends showing their iPhones, ads on TV showing the iPhone being used, some UI concepts borrowed from the desktop paradigm people are already used to, and just that once a UI has been in the mainstream's attention for six years, people are going to have had a lot of exposure to it. After all that it's easy to say it feels intuitive. There are intuitive elements but don't overlook the amount of "training" that happens.

Responsiveness is another reason native apps tend to win out. iOS adds delays when tapping links in Mobile Safari, etc. Users also have expectations of consistent behavior for native apps, unlike the web which is its own diverse platform - iOS 7 resembles web UI in some ways, but don't forget the hundreds of pages of human interface guidelines it comes with.