Circumventing mobile UX expectations

Recently, a buddy of mine [1] pointed me to an interesting tweet:

New tool converts your Apple #iOS apps to #HTML5 http://dld.bz/cejxz [2] #appdev

@effectiveui twitter.com/effectiveui/status/… [3]

The article about this new tool, dubbed the ”Intel HTML5 App Porter Tool [4]” suggests that because iOS apps are limited to one platform, HTML5:

represents an opportunity because it’s supported across a wide range of different devices and operating systems, so it enables the same code base to be reused across different app deployments.

Softtalkblog New Tool Converts Your Apple Apps to HTML5 [5]

While technically this statement is true – HTML5 is ubiquitous and you do end up with a single code base – HTML5 is the lowest common app development denominator and thus produces an underwhelming experience when compared to its native brethren.

Taking a native iOS (or Android) app and recasting it into an HTML5 app is like taking your beautiful Ferrari and trading it for a station wagon. The experience will never be quite the same.

Don’t get caught up in the HTML5 hype-cycle. It’s a great platform for mobile web sites, but if you’re building a mobile app, the UX bar has been set quite high. You cannot yet meet that bar with HTML5.