--- title: HTML5 Taking over the app world | daily.dev description: A 2012 opinion piece arguing that HTML5 will not take over the mobile app world, not because it's technically impossible, but because Apple and Google have no... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/html5-taking-over-the-app-world-f7sua9drp twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: HTML5 Taking over the app world | daily.dev og:description: A 2012 opinion piece arguing that HTML5 will not take over the mobile app world, not because it's technically impossible, but because Apple and Google have no... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/html5-taking-over-the-app-world-f7sua9drp og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/F7sua9Drp.png og:image:alt: HTML5 Taking over the app world og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # HTML5 Taking over the app world **[Touchlab](https://daily.dev/sources/touchlab)** · 12 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A 2012 opinion piece arguing that HTML5 will not take over the mobile app world, not because it's technically impossible, but because Apple and Google have no incentive to support it as a first-class app platform. The author draws parallels to failed cross-platform desktop solutions like Java and XUL, examines WebOS and Firefox OS as proof that HTML5 apps can work when platform owners commit to them, and critiques PhoneGap and Appcelerator as imperfect cross-platform solutions. The core argument is that cross-platform development doesn't actually deliver '2 for the price of 1' — it costs more to build and produces inferior UX compared to native development on each platform. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Fifty problems with standard web APIs in 2025](https://daily.dev/posts/fifty-problems-with-standard-web-apis-in-2025-qw4cmtxjv) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why Hybrid Mobile App Development is Gaining Popularity](https://daily.dev/posts/why-hybrid-mobile-app-development-is-gaining-popularity-7w1t3diln) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why don’t more developers “use the platform”?](https://daily.dev/posts/why-don-t-more-developers-use-the-platform--oagqrhfde) · Read the Tea Leaves · 3 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#mobile](https://daily.dev/tags/mobile), [#html](https://daily.dev/tags/html) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/html5-taking-over-the-app-world-f7sua9drp) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"HTML5 Taking over the app world","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/html5-taking-over-the-app-world-f7sua9drp","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/html5-taking-over-the-app-world-f7sua9drp"},"datePublished":"2026-08-02T07:15:27.554Z","dateModified":"2026-08-02T08:07:16.951Z","description":"A 2012 opinion piece arguing that HTML5 will not take over the mobile app world, not because it's technically impossible, but because Apple and Google have no...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--foaA6JGU--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2004","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--foaA6JGU--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2004","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Touchlab","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Touchlab","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--CQ0u6GwB--/f_auto,q_auto/v1785654902/logos/touchlab?_a=BAMAMicg0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/touchlab"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/html5-taking-over-the-app-world-f7sua9drp","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"mobile,html","timeRequired":"PT12M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Touchlab","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/touchlab"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"HTML5 Taking over the app world"}]} ```