Slightly longer version of a tweet from this morning:
Apple makes the iPhone SDK. They’re also one of (if not the) biggest contributors to WebKit.
WebKit’s capabilities continue to grow exponentially. I’m blown away by what can be done with it today. If development continues apace (and there’s no reason to believe it won’t) it seems realistic that within a reasonable amount of time it will be possible to create web apps that feel exactly like native iPhone apps.
All Apple would have to do to close the loop completely is expose a few extra things to WebKit via JavaScript. And therein lies my question.
Apple makes money from the iPhone developer program, and the sale of iPhone apps. They do not make money from WebKit apps.
As the major benefactor to both the iPhone and WebKit, does this present a conflict of interest within Apple?
To put it another way, if WebKit begins to present a serious threat of undermining the app store ecosystem, it appears to be in Apple’s financial interest to hobble WebKit development. What would you do if you were Apple?
It’s not often I disagree with Steven, but this is one of those times. I think this is wrong on two counts;
1. This assumes that the only thing stopping web apps from taking off is the apis. This is a developer centred view and ignores the fact that there is so much more to the app store than an SDK.
There is one feature of the App Store that web apps, no matter how cool they are, will never be able to compete with; payment processing. Buying an app from iTunes is so easy it’s like you’re not spending money, even your granny can do it. Will web apps ever be this easy?
2. This assumes that Apple is evil. Apple might appear to act evil but I personally don’t believe they are. Deliberately hobbling web apps to protect the app store would be the same as preventing me from ripping CDs to protect the iTunes Music Store.
It’s a pretty widely held belief that iTunes exists primarily to sell iPods, and now iPhones. If there are really amazing web apps that work best, or exclusively, on iPhone, then that will sell more iPhones.
