NextStop, Upcoming Mobile Web Apps Skip iTunes Store - Go Straig. The delays and uncertainty in submitting an iPhone app to Apple for consideration is inspiring some developers to skip the process all-together and release mobile apps that leverage increasingly powerful mobile browsers.
The latest mobile web apps that have knocked our socks off are from a startup of ex-Googlers called NextStop and the Yahoo-owned events calendar Upcoming. Both offer new mobile iPhone apps that can be updated seamlessly, are available immediately and are a lot of fun to use. Could mobile web apps challenge the dominance of native apps on the iPhone? That's an active debate. Check out these two hot new mobile web apps, followed by two different opinions from mobile developers about where this market is going. Why Nextstop used HTML 5 instead of doing an iPhone app. HTML5 is Great for Mobile, Developers Say - ReadWriteStart. The iPad has been this week's media darling with active discussion about the device's merits, a look at how it fails to encourage AR innovation and of course, this morning's announcement of a developer fund.
Although it's exciting from a consumer standpoint, between the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and now the iPad, application developers have their work cut out for them. While consumers may flock to the new tablet, the thought of locking more developers into the purgatory of the Apple approval process is one that few will celebrate. With the caveat that there is no current "write once, run anywhere" solution to app development, Director of Developer Relations at Palm Dion Almaer is betting on web-based apps and HTML 5 to solve some of our concerns. Says Almaer, "We can share a lot with the Web - take Gmail as an example. There isn't a true iPhone app, and it doesn't need one. Maker (@msfd) of Golden Globes' iPhone app speaks up for apps.