iPhone web apps: what happened?

Remember back that long time ago when Steve Jobs announced Iphone web apps? At that time web apps were supposed to be better than traditional apps for security reasons. In the press release it was said "applications created using Web 2.0 standards can extend IPhone's capabilities without compromising its reliability or security". So what happened?

Let's take a closer look at why the web apps failed at keeping Apple from releasing the SDK. It was first thought if outside parties were able to develop apps that it would destabilize the platform. While the concern is relevant, any decent quality assurance department will be able rid you of that risk. Also there was one major downfall of the web apps; you had to be connected to the Internet.

There are three reasons the SDK had to emerge from Apple. The first reason was that the jailbreaking community was overrunning Apple's hardware. At that time if a user were to jailbreak their phone it would open up the device and give it many more features. If it weren't for these added features Apple may have held back, but jailbreaking truly made the iPhone the device it was always meant to be.

The second reason that the SDK had to emerge was the iPhone needed it to remain competitive with other platforms. The iPhone was sold in a locked down format, what you paid for is all that you were able to get. Not so true on the Windows and Blackberry fronts. Those two operating systems had a plethora of third party programs. If Apple were to not allow third party applications it would severely limit the products potential.

The third and biggest reason that Apple released the SDK was that it realized they could make money off of sales. It would be nice to think that Apple delivered the SDK to Iphone fans to be nice and responsible, you can't ignore the fact that the App Store brings in revenue to Apple. The margin of profit on sales for Apple is quite high. Apple does not develop the program but retains a royalty fee for selling the software; it's easy and cheap money for Apple to make.

So how does the SDK relate to web apps? It goes to show that the idea was fundamentally flawed. Realizing this, an SDK was pushed out and has proven to be a massive success for Apple and clearly raised the bar for the iPhone.