With the popularity of iPhones, iPads, Android devices, Blackberry phones and other non-traditional methods of accessing the web, many businesses have been creating applications for these devices so they can engage their customer base. Now, however, the use of HTML5 is allowing those businesses to use the same medium to reach both desktop and mobile users, and are abandoning the mobile app.
This approach may not fit the model for all businesses. A gaming site, for instance, may wish to have both a mobile-equipped website as well as a mobile app for the major mobile devices (iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, WebOS). For most businesses, and especially most developers, the idea of being able to create one website/application that works with all web browsers–desktop or mobile device–would be a blessing in both development time and cost.
By using HTML5, CSS3 and some very efficient JavaScript libraries, a developer can create applications which are hard to tell from native apps, that is, applications designed to work on specific hardware (and which takes advantage of the features of that hardware).
