I think you hit the nail on the head - something very few people understand. I don't doubt that HTML5 will eventually catch up to the functionality of Flash... in 10 years or so. Until then? Native Apps and hacks to make basic layout and animations work cross browser. Adobe failed hard as well, they couldn't produce a non-buggy plugin for all operating systems and mobile devices. Had they done this, I don't think SJ could have refused it access to the app store.