Is the future of Web on HTML5? Movile believes so.
Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 7:35PMFlavio Stecca
It´s no coincidence that many of the biggest brands on mobile and web are investing in open web standards like HTML5… Google, Apple, Mozilla, Facebook, Microsoft, Opera, Nokia, RIM, Samsung, Mozilla and others are all talking about HTML5. What’s happening? We’re seeing a new chapter in of the Internet. The mobile web environment is changing user behavior and requirements. The PC is no longer the center of the computing experience. More and more, users are surfing the web, organizing documents, emailing, playing games, and accessing social networks not just on their PCs but also on mobile phones, tablets, and more. By 2013, analysts expect that mobile phones will overtake PCs as the device of choice for surfing the web, and that’s one the main reasons why technology leaders are looking with increased interest towards HTML5.
The future of computing is mobile devices – including smartphones, tablets, TVs, cars, appliances and more. The massive increase in mobile web access will require user files, games and applications to be readily available anywhere and anytime. In a nutshell, the new user experience is pushing users towards mobile cloud computing. Check out this post which outlines the expected usage of mobile cloud computing. Soon, your apps and content will all be in the cloud, and you’ll be able to use mobile apps anywhere, any time, and on any device.
This is where HTML5 comes in! This new web standard allows for the creation of a richer user experience and far more powerful applications on the web than we’ve seen before. With HTML5, developers have access to resources that were once available only for native applications.
What’s HTML5? Abstract discussions about HTML5 began in late 2003. In 2004, the Web Consortium (W3C) expressed an interest in the draft of HTML5, developed by the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG). As a result, in 2007, the development of HTML5 specifications was created by the W3C HTML Working Group.
It´s expected that HTML5 will reach the status of W3C Candidate Recommendation in 2012, even though most browsers already provide partial support for HTML5 specifications. The main benefits of HTML5, which are already supported by browsers today include:
• Offline Support — The AppCache and Database make it possible for mobile developers to store data locally on the device. Interruptions in connectivity will not affect the ability for someone to get their work done.
• Canvas and Video — These two features are designed to make it easy to add graphics and video to a page without worrying about plugins.
• GeoLocation and Accelerometer APIs — These are actually not part of HTML5, but it is a separate specification. That said, it is often bundled together because the mobile devices that include HTML5 generally support GeoLocation and Accelerometer APIs.
• Advanced Forms — Improvements in HTML5 for forms help make life easier for mobile applications.
Take a look at the 2010 Google I/O session “HTML5 status update” to see what is coming in the near future (camera access, voice recognition, microphone access, positional audio, WebGL, etc).
With the recent HTML5 hype, there is plenty of debate about whether to develop in HTML 5 vs. developing a native mobile app (i.e. iOS, Android, etc.). There are a lot of great HTML5 apps already available, but the user experience is still generally better with native applications. However, the playing field is changing and we are seeing better and more advanced HTML5 applications every day. Hardware, browsers and technology are evolving rapidly, and HTML5 applications will soon be on par with native applications. Devices like the iPad2 and all the new dual core mobile phones and tablets are already breaking ground with advanced graphics acceleration, faster Javascript engines and high performing processors.
Even though today’s distribution of mobile apps is highly concentrated in Apple’s iTunes App Store, in time this will change, and a variety of strong app store contenders will emerge with the ability to distribute and monetize apps.
According Ovum’s Mobile Application Download Forecast, Apple’s share of app distribution will decrease from 67% in 2009 to 22% in 2015. In this context, HTML5 mobile apps will leverage the web eco-system for distribution, discovery and monetization. This process has already begun with Zeewe, Movile‘s HTML5 app store. On Zeewe, it’s already possible for developers to add Push Notification, In-App Billing and Social Discovery to their HTML apps. There’s been a tremendous growth with HTML5 Mobile web apps that use those resources. That’s why top players like Mozilla and Google Chrome have also entered the fold and are helping build the future of mobile application development.
Flávio Stecca, CTO of Movile. Developed one of the pioneer HTML5 environment and app store, www.Zeewe.com.
Reader Comments (3)
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Vijay and John,
thanks a lot for your nice words :) I'm glad you both enjoyed the post.
I hope you can keep following us. Please, let me know if you have any other feedbacks or if you wanna know more about an specific topic or suggest some new ones.
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