Of course Jim Balsillie is going to harsh on mobile applications. RIM is playing catch-up just like everyone else and that's all there is to this Web 2.0 interview. Right?
Well, his words rolled around in my head a little bit. He's making a bit of sense here. Does a designer really have to learn a whole new tool chain per device just to engage a mobile user base? Most "applications" are little more than a frame around data derived from the web. Isn't that what a browser does?
I only started to think critically about these questions after reading this article by the guys at Nitobi. Until then, I hadn't really understood the javascript-native trade-off. In fact, I hadn't even thought of it as a javascript versus native decision. I had no idea technology like PhoneGap allowed you to reach into the device the way it does.
At this point you might be asking yourself "who cares about cross-platform"? Why not just develop for iPhone and wait for the cash to roll in? Not a bad idea except that all of the interesting applications leverage the web and I for one don't want to share with Apple.
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