HTML5 seen as future of most apps

Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin has criticized Apple's business model for the App Store, which he views as unsustainable as the mobile industry continues to evolve. Despite Apple's dominance with over 200,000 titles, Zemlin suggests the "top ten pages are the only ones that matter," according to an interview with Wired.

The Linux director sees HTML5 as the future technology for most apps other than games, while native apps could be distributed through common warehouses that spread across multiple platforms. The approach is claimed to potentially help overcome billing complexities and incompatibility between devices.

"So imagine how easy this would be — I’m an app developer, and I go into an app warehouse. I see three or four different OSes on half a dozen different architectures," Zemlin said. "I submit my code and the warehouse does compatibility checks for me. Then the warehouse will distribute my app for me, sending it to app stores run by BMW, or by China Mobile, or Comcast. The warehouse handles all the billing, and at the end of the month, I just get one check."

Zemlin expects the warehouse model to mature sometime in the next few years, at which time it will be "better than the alternative, which is iTunes." He suggests that developers may begin to turn against Apple for charging 30 percent of gross revenue.

"Even services are all through Apple," Zemlin noted. "That's so absurd, and just unsustainable."

by MacNN Staff