PastryKit to usher in more “app-like” web apps. Allow devs to bypass App Store restrictions all together?

The App Store is for mobile devices what iTunes was for mp3 players. Apple’s 180 on native applications after first announcing web apps were the way to do back in 2007 was a shock to many and welcomed by most. Since the App Store’s launch however, numerous complaints have been made and even websites created to highlight Apple’s draconian and sometimes senseless decisions concerning the App Store and polices within. It is that negative image and bad press that has re-energized the view of many iPhone devs into the world of web apps.

Wait a second. Weren’t web apps poo-pooed because they were inferior to native apps back in ‘07? Why yes, yes they were. Don’t forget however that the mobile market has undergone some vast changes over the last year and a half. Not only has the mobile app world changed in regard to the limits mobile apps could obtain but also in the technologies used for said apps. Like their native cousins, web apps and the supporting technology have equally improved.

We are now at a point where tools such as “PastryKit” allow web developers to code and create webapps that feature some of the most desktop/native-like style and features yet, blurring the line between what is native and what is web. Right about now you’re probably asking yourself what the heck PastryKit is. Allow me to indulge…

PastryKit

• PastryKit is an innovative and constantly improving set of tools allowing web apps. A blend of multiple technologies and languages including JavaScript, CSS, and some supporting graphics resources ensures the new generation of web apps is more robust, functional, and visually appealing. Need an example? If you own an iPhone, simply navigate to support.apple.com/manuals/iphone/ and notice the iPhone optimized manual that loads. Said manual relies on — you guessed it — PastryKit.

For now, consumers will have to wait it out or figure out the workings of PastryKit themselves as Apple hasn’t released the necessary information and source material to include PastryKit in any non-Apple/3rd party solutions. Such an approach has to at least have to do in some part with preventing App Store devs an easy out from App Store restrictions by way of open and free web apps powered by PastryKit. Still, those with the know-how will figure it out soon enough and spread the knowledge to others.

I’m not a developer so I couldn’t begin to explain the pros and cons to each method being used, but if any developer — native or web — want’s to speak up and give some insight into this hotly debated topic, feel free to jump in.

Ars Technica