What clients for web application?

Is it true that web browsers as we know today have no future? That programmers should write native clients for their application on many devices? I'm writing web 开发者_如何学运维application with AJAX but should I also prepare versions to many mobile devices?

The web will be around and web browsers are available on almost any device. Some say native development is the future, because it is closer to the device and gets the most out of the system. This is true and is applied in various cases, like XBOX games and Apple software that is especially designed for a single device.

Other developments show the other side. Google's OS is barely more than a webbrowser. All applications running on it are merely web applications that should run on any browser. Only difference is that the engine of Chrome OS is put directly onto the hardware, allowing the webpage to get a better performance, because it has only one abstraction layer to the hardware instead of 3 or 4.

So, the only advice I can give is not to worry about it. People on either side have been declaring the other technique to be dead since decades ago, but both are still here. When it is time to switch, you will know. :)

The first statement is definitely not true.

The second one depends on your case, but most things you can just do "mobile-browser friendly". I.e. make a mobile version of the website that looks good on mobile browsers. No need for mobile applications.

Of course, if you have the resources, a mobile app is a good addition to your portfolio / brand.

First of all no one knows and no one can know what the future will bring. For me though, it is difficult to imagine a world without web browsers at least in the near/mid term future, especially with all the hype/support behind HTML 5. The big advantage is of HTML 5 in this regard is write once, run everywhere.

My 2 cents ;-)

If anything, it is the other way around. Make a good web application, and everyone can use it. Mobile browsers get better and better all the time. Expect mobile website usage to increase, rather than custom applications for each device. (obviously, applications that need hardware access are not included in this statement.)

Furthermore, expect a convergence between mobile web and desktop web.