If you sniff the network traffic you’ll find why: it essentially is a hybrid html and native app. All pages of the App Store are set up in XML and loaded server

If you sniff the network traffic you’ll find why: it essentially is a hybrid html and native app. All pages of the App Store are set up in XML and loaded server side, hardly ever cached. Just like <select> in HTML iTunes uses similar structure to instruct and deliver native or semi-native components. It’s a big web page. And it’s slower than Safari. That’s why.