Web-based mobile apps are not a new concept, and they are the most favorable development option. Web apps have several advantages over native apps, a key one being that they support cross-platform compatibility, have familiar user graphics and consistency. HTML5 further extends the abilities of web apps through enabling them to interact like native apps.

However, the situation at the moment is that native apps rule and this limits developers and business options due to potential costs. This means the businesses developing these apps have to choose one platform in which to develop apps in order to save on resources.

The dominance of native apps is due to a few reasons dating back less than a decade, this can be attributed to …

1. Apple and Google support of native apps
• These two giants shelved the idea of web apps to support native apps
• It also allowed them to be able to micro manage everything a user is exposed to in a more close circuit manner
2. The specifications for HTML5 changed and evolved early on which led to it being seen as an incomplete and unsuitable preference
3. The device manufacturing companies concentrated on adding new features which locked-out web apps from participating.

HTML5 is advantageous because it makes an app adaptable to multiple platforms, web applications are a better choice for internal business apps since HTML5 has features such as location tracking, signature capture and offline capability. It accommodates diversity especially where employees bring their own devices to work.

Unfortunately, the competition in the market does not support the existence of a single platform for app development. In the case of CAFM we have used this to our advantage to give us an edge in the market place.

Advantages of web apps over native apps

Web apps have considerable advantages over native apps that should be examined and considered

1. They lessen the development costs since one web app works across several platforms, meaning the savings can be passed onto customers.
2. Native apps require different development for different platforms meaning updates can become extremely slow or non-existent
3. They have a custom user interface that works for all devices reducing training and support costs
4. They are easy to manage since data and access control can be centralized

Support for Open Web Standard

Another reason while HTML5 is proceeding to dominant the app store is that there is ongoing development of other operating systems that back open Web standard, with the he development of these open source operating systems provides a platform for HTML5 apps. Developers are then enabled with the abilities that they can then port apps from one platform to another easily, and subsequently make faster turnaround times on software upgrades, allowing them to completely bypass the long process of approval with app stores.

The prevailing dominance of iOS and Android forces developers to create apps in languages that only one operating system supports. After development, they still wait for approval so that he updates can be pushed to customers, this makes for an extremely testing time as anything urgent could realistically take months to be pushed out, in the likes of CAFM this process doesn’t exist because there is no third party who over see’s our apps and decides ours and your fate.

Its not just in the office, gaming will also move to the browser …

HTML5 therefore allows for fast roll-out of apps and gives developers control in the market place like Apple’s App Store and Google Play. The new open source operating systems – Tizen, Firefox OS, and Ubuntu- will eliminate the control restrictions. The Web then becomes the basis for apps without dominance by any player. The numbers stand at over 40 billion downloads for Apple’s App Store with Google Play trailing slightly behind.

It’s not just office systems that are pushing into the web browser, but also games … HTML5 is behind the futuristic games that are fast-paces and which run on a browser. These games are built using HTML5, WebGL and JavaScript. They include a 3-dimensional library on WebGL that provide powerful gaming graphics that moves the user one step closer to the web browser for apps and steps them away from the app stores. The incorporation of HTML5 on gaming apps makes them portable on numerous devices. HTML5 therefore favors the full-fledged WebGL games to be played on a mobile browser in the same way that an app would function.

Mobile web apps have Push Notification functionality

HTML5 apps include the capability for push notification, these notifications are real time and range from pull requests to friend requests. The notifications provide users with current information to enhance their experience and were previously a stand out feature of native apps which skewed the field in their favor, but not any longer. The HTML5 Push Notifications keeps the user in the know about interesting content even when the user does not hit the refresh button.

Push Notifications improve interaction inside CAFM by alerting the user of everything that’s important to keeping the business running correctly.

Moving back towards a more open Internet

The Internet was once an open exciting place where everything was shared, and that is still true today, but with one difference and that’s that the app stores provide a dangerous disadvantageous to developers and users alike with attempting to lock in and control content that you can see and dictate timelines in which you can receive important upgrades to mission critical products.

With the introduction of HTML5 and everything that comes with it, companies like Google have been proactive in helping establish the open web equilibrium with fantastic upgrades to their Chrome Browser and upgrades to their Android product by introducing and facilitating Push Notifications for the browser. Now is the time that the major players who once sought to establish walled gardens look to open their gates and embrace the fact that App Stores will soon not have much of a place in the World where people look for speedier upgrades and producing expansive applications without getting the permission of a third party.