There is no WebKit on Mobile
Last month I posted on mobile browser differences. Today, Quirksmode have declared "There is no WebKit on Mobile". Furthermore, "All 10 mobile WebKits I’ve identified so far are subtly or wildly different."
This is disappointing. Together with the current diversification going on in Widget runtimes, this means we haven’t learnt the lessons of native mobile development. All the talk of ‘the future of mobile is the web’ doesn’t look that achievable at the moment.
Each company/organisation has gone it’s own way rather than collaborating. It has obviously been easier and quicker for them and they have incorrectly perceived that if they could gain significant market uptake before others then they would have a competitive advantage.
I suppose the best we can hope for is that one platform dominates (unlikely) or that one browser (runtime) becomes so good it is adopted on other platforms (also unlikely). I continue to believe native and web will exist side by side and be used according to their respective strengths.
Related Articles:
- Mobile Browser Differences
- New Nokia WRT Plugins
- Windows Mobile Widgets
- GSMA OneAPI
- Widget API Fragmentation
- How Many Mobile Platforms?
- GSMA 3rd Party Access Project
- Runtimes, Frameworks and Fragmentation
- Mobile Apps vs Web
- Web Runtimes
- FOM Entertainment and Brain Food
- Is the Future of Mobile the Web?
- FOM: Future of Mobile
- S60 3rd FP2 with Widgets
- Widget Market Map
- Widgets, Mobile Web 2.0 and Javascript
- Nokia S60 Widgets and Web Runtime
- Nokia S60 WebKit