When the original iPhone arrived it was all about web apps but since Apple launched the iTunes App Store the focus has clearly shifted. Now some developers are claiming that Apple is deliberately hobbling the ability of HTML5 web apps to run as full screen apps from the homescreen.
According to claims by The Register when a web app is saved to the home screen in iOS 4.3, it runs about 2x to 2.5x slower than in Mobile Safari. The reason appears to be that the new Nitro JavaScript engine that hit the OS with the iOS 4.3 update does not activate for full screen web apps launched from the home screen. Is this a cockup or a conspiracy?
While the Register rightly notes that Apple isn’t degrading home screen wep app speed but boosting web apps in the browser, it has a conspiracy theory: it claims Apple is deliberately handicapping web apps to keep pushing users to the iTunes App Store. It quotes a mobile web app develop who says: “Apple is basically using subtle defects to make web apps appear to be low quality – even when they claim HTML5 is a fully supported platform.”
But later in the story, Alex Kessinger, another mobile app developer, says: “Some people like to think of it as a conspiracy theory but it could be bug.” Given that lots of app in the iTunes App Store use HTML internally, we suspect the latter view is more on the money. What do you think? Is Apple trying to hamstring HTML5 apps?
Out now | £varies | Apple (via The Register)
