If I look at what features are provided and what are not in HTML5 (especially on iOS), I also get the impression that some features are "conveniently" missing, with the consequence that certain things can only be written as native apps.
Notably:
- Network access. You can't write a BitTorrent or IMAP client in HTML. You could have with Java or Flash, but those have been axed (Apple was a major contributor to that). Of course there were good technical and security reasons for that, but it is a "convenient" side effect.
- Last time I checked at least, touch input and rendering (WebGL/Canvas) was inferior to native.
Now, I'm not convinced there is a concious decision to keep HTML apps limited, but I do believe it plays a role when it comes to Apple supporting certain features and disallowing others.
Notably: - Network access. You can't write a BitTorrent or IMAP client in HTML. You could have with Java or Flash, but those have been axed (Apple was a major contributor to that). Of course there were good technical and security reasons for that, but it is a "convenient" side effect. - Last time I checked at least, touch input and rendering (WebGL/Canvas) was inferior to native.
Now, I'm not convinced there is a concious decision to keep HTML apps limited, but I do believe it plays a role when it comes to Apple supporting certain features and disallowing others.