Comments on: Google Says Mobile Web Apps Will Win In The Long Haul

By: Simon Engelbrecht

Simon Engelbrecht — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:08:51 +0000

Exactly! This is so true. Money talks!

By: Dharmesh

Dharmesh — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:06:30 +0000

It’s the Mobile World now!!!! Mobile apps will overcome PC Apps in near future.

By: George

George — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 04:37:41 +0000

One issue is battery life. Accessing the web is the biggest drain on a mobile’s battery. Locally stored apps will always have an advantage because the code and, most likely, graphics resources, are already on the device and do not have to be downloaded each time the app is run. As people have mentioned, without the ability for web apps to be run locally from the device (without needing to download code and graphics), web apps will always be a bigger drain on battery.

Next is CPU utilization. Unlike web apps, the code in native apps is already compiled, is ready-to-run, and does not have to be interpreted at run-time. Apps using interpreted languages like JavaScript will always be a bigger drain on battery than natively compiled apps.

Have to ask people who own the web app-based Palm Pre… how’s your battery life with heavy app usage?

By: Kawika

Kawika — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:48:07 +0000

I think this battle is far from over.

By: CJ Millisock

CJ Millisock — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:01:02 +0000

Google is wrong here, imo.

The biggest advantage that web apps had over installed apps was portability. No matter what computer you were using, your data was there in the cloud rather than stored locally.

When it comes to mobile apps, this is a non-issue. Whether the app is installed on the device or launched from a browser on the device, the data is still with you wherever you go.

Take Facebook for example. All your data is stored in the cloud. But the best Facebook app for the iPhone is the installed app, not the iPhone-skinned web app.

Why? Because native apps provide a much better user experience. I have a hard time believing that HTML will ever achieve the response time and input capabilities of a native app.

By: Bart Czernicki

Bart Czernicki — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:01:58 +0000

With technologies like Silverlight, you can write once and deploy to: Azure Cloud, XBOX 360, Windows Mobile 7, dekstop and web.

Sorry to all the open-source/HTML 5 fanboys…Google is not getting there any faster. In less than a year, you will see Silverlight everywhere in Microsoft based products.

By: Chris Webb

Chris Webb — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 08:16:10 +0000

It really comes down to the type of app you are trying to build. Graphics intense apps or apps that leverage native device features that are not exposed to the web environment may still need to be native but many standard data display apps can can easily be web without any noticeable difference to the user. One aspect that is important for mobile apps is that the web app needs to be standalone on the device with all of its resources local and local caching of cloud data so the UI is responsive and it can function in poor or absent wireless connectivity. The only negative is that browser support is not quite there yet across all mobile platforms but that is coming and apart from this I think web apps are the future.

By: Vihgo iPhone App

Vihgo iPhone App — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 01:34:12 +0000

Do you know that anyone can decompile your flash file and read your source code? Do you know there is a thing called “crossdomain.xml”? Do you know flash (or actionscript as a language) does not support database connection? As a developer, I would not use flash even it was on iPhone.

By: Mnemon

Mnemon — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:20:51 +0000

I agree with Sanjay — Google just wants open-standards tech to catch up with far better proprietary tech (WPF, Silverlight, Flash/Flex, most native mobile app platforms, etc), so that no one else will make any money.

On the desktop, web apps never have come close to native apps for usability or features. The same is more true on mobile.

Just because Google wishes things were a certain way, doesn’t make them that way.

By: Nicholas

Nicholas — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:42:17 +0000

Flash continually crashes Safari on my Macs, and I want this on my iPhone? Also, which Flash shall I develop for? The common framework, ala Java, is sadly not common.

Market share, and device penetration will be as important in the mobile space as in the desktop. I see web applications working incredibly well for certain experiences and lacking in many others. There will be plenty of optimized, web-like, networked applications created for dominant platforms, because they perform well.

Web will win, if winning means that most capabilities should be cross-platform. It will not win in the performance, gaming, and entertainment space as easily. Custom experiences are still important.

By: Zach Allia

Zach Allia — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:42:51 +0000

apple has a whole different perspective because half of their devices aren’t phones, they are ipod touches. people love playing games offline.

By: Rodrigo Mazzilli

Rodrigo Mazzilli — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:16:06 +0000

Ok, if web apps are going to eliminate the need for native apps, why the heck most people install desktop apps to use Twitter? Check out the numbers!

And I mean both on a PC and on phones. People love native apps by their usability, which is almost unmatched by most web apps, specially on a small device.
As much as HTML5 will improve the overall experience, it will take many many years until we can utilize its full potential.

By: Adnan Ahmad

Adnan Ahmad — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:04:38 +0000

Vic Gundotra acknowledged Apple’s move from Web App to Native, implying that Apple was simply a bit ahead of the times:

I think you meant from native to Web! :)

By: fb672940935

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 09:38:43 +0000

You can develop native iPhone, Android, Palm, Nokia, RIM, and Windows Mobile using moblyng.com’s technology – all using HTML and Javascript

By: John

John — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 08:49:22 +0000

Um, it’s not Adobe’s reluctant to support Flash on iPhone – it’s Apple’s arrogance.

By: davebroham

davebroham — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:55:17 +0000

still need micro-payments across the web to go mainstream

By: James Pearce

James Pearce — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:52:55 +0000

Yup, the web will be the app store.

For a start? Better discoverability.

By: Jeff Haynie

Jeff Haynie — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:37:43 +0000

You can develop native iPhone and Android applications (and Desktop, too) using Appcelerator Titanium today — all using HTML and Javascript.

By: brendan biryla

brendan biryla — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:15:07 +0000

you guys profiled some company that does cloud based 3D rendering a few week ago and showed that it could be used on a mobile device… now if I could just remember the company name…

By: Amusis.com

Amusis.com — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:58:44 +0000

Do you use online banking much?

By: Scott

Scott — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:54:32 +0000

Ask a Mac or Linux user how fast Adobe is at getting working plugins for any of their products. Then ask them about 64-bit support.

That, my friend, is why proprietary plugins like Flash/Silverlight are not the answer.

By: Kerrick

Kerrick — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:43:55 +0000

What about Objective-J?

By: Sanjay Sharma

Sanjay Sharma — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:14:56 +0000

Google Gears and HTML5 trying to replicate something that you can already do natively? Progress? Google’s only intention is to keep your eyeballs on their ads. That’s it.

By: Charbax

Charbax — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:59:27 +0000

What Google is saying, we need standards for HTML5 that for example, brings geolocation, storage, camera, compass, tilt detector, video playback hardware acceleration and all that into the browser as standards.

No reason also that HTML5 doesn’t add native code features as well and that web apps are actually downloaded, streamed and stored on your phones internal memory. And that it then synchronizes your local and online databases by default and checks for new versions of web apps automatically if it needs to redownload it.

By: Charbax

Charbax — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:56:12 +0000

No the don’ẗ. Read up on HTML5.

With Google Gears in HTML5, Web apps are stored on your phone so they work offline, and you don’t need to load the web app each time you use it. It loads instantly like a native app.