You may not have the experience of supporting a large web service, but I do. Believe me, supporting native apps for multiple platforms is not only a multimillion dollar money pit, but an integration nightmare. You end up building a web interface anyways then hacking together a ui in native code for every platform. The long term support structure can very quickly (exponentially) get out of hand.
I don't personally, but the people I work beside do, and it doesn't seem from talking and working with them that it's as bad as you suggest, no where close. Having launched successful apps on multiple platforms for a website, I've seen it done successfully.
Large saas, social media, and rich media delivery services have many times more complex factors than a simple content site. Why do you think Netflix, Facebook, many major banks and loan servicing institutions and most financial portals have chosen the web app strategy. It's not just because they are idiots and don't get it, it's that theyve recognized the unsupportable nature of multiple mobile platforms with such limited penetration.
Was referring to a "web site" akin to Facebook. A social network. Not merely a "content site." So, that point is moot.
> It's not just because they are idiots and don't get it
Didn't suggest otherwise. But your reasoning is flawed, I'd imagine. Your suggesting that they don't go native because smaller platforms have limited penetration? If so, that seems silly. Why not support the platforms with large penetration natively, and support the platforms with smaller penetration with a web app?
I'm not suggesting going native for every platform, but going native for none because you can't do them all is even more silly.
I was referring to the actual penetration of mobile users vs desktop browser users -- which is often on the order of 5% or less. This makes it a very expensive investment for such a minority of users.
Besides that still leaves you with Android and/or iOS plus web -- two to three times the development costs. This becomes very hard to justify for such a small percentage of total product users.
