One of the big debates in web design since the rise of smartphone apps has been the question of ‘going native’ or following web standards.
In an ideal world, all apps would follow the HTML web standards so designers would only have to create one app that would run on any device — a smartphone, tablet or PC — regardless of what type of software it was running.
However the HTML 5 standard has proved problematic as developers have found applications written in the language are slow with limited features, so the attraction of writing ‘native’ apps that are designed for each system remains strong as users get a faster, better experience.
The problem with that approach is that it results in having to design for different operating systems and various devices which is costly and adds complexity.
For the last two years at Dreamforce, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has trumpeted the advantages of the company’s HTML5 Touch product.
This year Benioff unveiled the company’s Salesforce One product — a suite of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) that simplifies building smartphone and web apps. At the media conference after the launch, Benioff even went as far to describe the once lauded Touch product as a “mistake”.
So Salesforce has abandoned HTML5, which is a blow for standard applications.
If others follow Salesforce, and it appears that is the trend, then we’ll increasingly see the smartphone industry dominated by iOS and Android as most companies lack the resources or commitment to develop for more than two platforms and their form factors.
Open standards have been one of the driving factors of the web’s success, it would be a shame if we saw the mobile market split into two warring camps reminiscent of the VHS and Beta video tape days.
Interesting though there are couple of articles that say it’s a myth. 1 of those articles happens to be from Techcrunch – http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/07/debunking-some-myths-about-native-and-html5-hybrid-apps/ . It’s like saying advertising, SEO, etc are dying – they haven’t though they are changing.
Salesforce and others are using hybrid including HTML5.
Nah. I think it’s horses for courses. Salesforce’s app would I imagine be very large and detailed with lots of bling. For different purposes, HTML5 is fine. For a company with SF’s budget, I think they can afford to spend the extra money to develop 2-3 times (IOS/Android/WindowsMobile8). Most of our customers do not have Salesforce’s development budget and are happy to have a fully functional mobile app source from one code base with one set of developers maintaining.