The decision to buy a computer is mainly based on the size of the application-base. The early-adopters are anticipating rapid application-base growth. To grow the application base, one needs developers. As Steve Balmer said:
A significant portion of my purchase decision was that OmniFocus was releasing a portable version of their program.
The trouble with browser-based iPhone apps -- around here, anyway -- is that you can't use them on the subway. The GMail client on my old blackberry was like that and it was totally worthless during most of the time I was mobile.
I do think that web apps with the HTML 5 database ( http://www.w3.org/html/wg/html5/#sql ) and clever caching would cover most use-cases. It does still leave email-outbox style functionality out of apps, but a simple message-passing service in the API would solve that.
When people own computers, they want applications available -- the more the better. Remember the "10,000 programs" television ad for the Apple II?
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22apple+ii%22+%2210%2C000+pr...
The decision to buy a computer is mainly based on the size of the application-base. The early-adopters are anticipating rapid application-base growth. To grow the application base, one needs developers. As Steve Balmer said:
http://www.google.com/search?q=steve+balmer+developers