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It takes initiative and a great product specifically built for the problem. You can't just plug in a hard to use product (for the dev and end user). It needs

It takes initiative and a great product specifically built for the problem. You can't just plug in a hard to use product (for the dev and end user). It needs to be as easy to buy the mobile web app as it is to buy the iphone app store app. ie- one click. have you ever tried to put CC info in on a mobile phone? its hell.

moe 17y ago
This is a billion dollar market. Rest assured initiative will not be in short supply, once the first serious mobile webapps (read: proof of concept) pop up. Apple will do their best to hinder progress as long as they can but I doubt they can delay the inevitable for very long. The next gen of phones will likely already provide a near frictionless web performance. From there it's only a matter of being "allowed" to hook into phone APIs via javascript. Apple will naturally deny this while Android will embrace it aggressively. From that point onwards Apple has a serious problem on their hands, as far as the iPhone platform is concerned.
- steveklabnik 17y ago
  Apple won't deny this from happening. Don't they already have a great set of tools available to make your web app work like a "real" one?
- chc 17y ago
  The suggestion that "Apple will do their best to hinder progress" really needs support. So far, Apple has been pushing Web apps harder than anybody else out there. They initially presented Web apps as the preferred way to create iPhone software — it's the developers who balked at that and demanded an SDK. There's a special Web app mode built into MobileSafari. Heck, MobileSafari itself is at the forefront of Web technology, supporting a lot more sophisticated stuff than any of the other mobile browsers and more than a lot of desktop browsers until recently. On top of all that, Apple itself produces a very cool standards-based free Web application framework, SproutCore. How is that hindering progress?

moe 17y ago

This is a billion dollar market. Rest assured initiative will not be in short supply, once the first serious mobile webapps (read: proof of concept) pop up. Apple will do their best to hinder progress as long as they can but I doubt they can delay the inevitable for very long. The next gen of phones will likely already provide a near frictionless web performance. From there it's only a matter of being "allowed" to hook into phone APIs via javascript. Apple will naturally deny this while Android will embrace it aggressively. From that point onwards Apple has a serious problem on their hands, as far as the iPhone platform is concerned.

steveklabnik 17y ago
Apple won't deny this from happening. Don't they already have a great set of tools available to make your web app work like a "real" one?
chc 17y ago
The suggestion that "Apple will do their best to hinder progress" really needs support. So far, Apple has been pushing Web apps harder than anybody else out there. They initially presented Web apps as the preferred way to create iPhone software — it's the developers who balked at that and demanded an SDK. There's a special Web app mode built into MobileSafari. Heck, MobileSafari itself is at the forefront of Web technology, supporting a lot more sophisticated stuff than any of the other mobile browsers and more than a lot of desktop browsers until recently. On top of all that, Apple itself produces a very cool standards-based free Web application framework, SproutCore. How is that hindering progress?