Will Apple's rejection of Flash undermine the apps market?

Criticism of Apple’s controlled approach to its mobile operating system and its backing of HTML 5 over Flash has led certain commentators to question the viability of the apps market. 

But drawing a line of conflict between HTML5 and apps is, I think, slightly diverting – and it’s an argument that fails to consider important differences between apps on a mobile phone, and apps on tablet devices – and how those devices connect to the Internet.

Browsing the ‘web’ on a mobile phone remains, largely, a frustrating experience. Apps on mobile phones have done an excellent job in packaging and optimising a web-like experience for devices which are forced to connect to the internet through these still-sluggish cellular connections.

Tablet devices on the other hand – and early research shows that this is how they are being used – are quickly finding their use as a second, or even third device in the home and therefore largely connected to the internet via wi-fi.

It’s a vital distinction – and one which should lead publishers or developers to ask themselves a fundamental question before committing to development: “Will this application deliver a superior experience compared to a rich website application on a device that’s largely connected to the web on wi-fi and has an excellent browser?”

Finally, what this debate rarely considers is the fragmentation of the app market - it’s not just about Apple and iTunes. Delivering a proposition with real scale will mean developing for many different platforms – Apple, Android, Ovi, Bada, etc – and this adds cost and complexity.

So could HTML5, a universal standard which makes app-like functionality available on any browser, undermine Apps in that scenario? Absolutely.