An installed application can potentially do a lot more than a cookie. For example, open files on the filesystem, read text messages & phone numbers and upload t

An installed application can potentially do a lot more than a cookie. For example, open files on the filesystem, read text messages & phone numbers and upload these to a third party server and sometimes even modify or install other software. The same issues exist with desktop applications of course, for example various spyware toolbars etc so you always have to make some judgement call. The main difference seems to be that when you access a website on your desktop you are much less likely to get some popup nagging you to download a desktop app to consume the content vs a smartphone app. I guess because most desktops are fast enough that you can get reasonable performance from just HTML5 or flash.