HTML5 Is Not Yet Good-Enough

Another company is moving away from HTML5 and into native app development for mobile.

“Gree admits failure with browser-based mobile gaming, shifts half of workforce to make native games for iOS and Android”

This trend is not new and ever since Facebook (a huge HTML5 proponent) admitted that HTML5 was a huge mistake, HTML5 development has been on the defensive.

What we saw and still continue to see is, whenever the user experience is an important feature, native app development is the better approach.

This doesn’t mean that every developer must ditch HTML5 and go native. There are many cases where user experience is not the priority. In these cases, it might be still more practical to chose HTMl5.

Rather than debating HTML5 vs. native app development, it is more worthwhile to try to understand what this continuing trend means for the evolution of smartphones. My view is that this trend suggests the following;

1. The user experience of HTML5 is still not good enough. That is to say that users value the smoothness, responsiveness and beauty of native apps. Users notice the difference.
2. This would also suggest that the smoothness of the iOS user interface in comparison to Android, is still highly valued.

What’s interesting is that PC users never really demanded smoothness or responsiveness, and were more or less content with Web interfaces. I wonder why.