Apple wants to make the best experience for users while maintaining vendor lock-in.
iOS users invest hundreds of dollars in apps and games and enjoy exclusive products. This creates a very significant barrier to switch to another mobile platform.
Quite obviously increased switching costs for users are important for iOS to maintain leadership in platform wars.
Therefore, rapid advancement of web apps user experience to the level of native apps in some categories would be detrimental to Apple's competitive positions.
Making web lose -> stronger competitive advantage.
Making web lose -> make users unhappy in short (and probably long) term, damage Apple's reputation in long term
It's totally awesome how Google created its Play store so that it seamlessly works on competing platforms -- after all it's a largely open-source stack that would easily run on (say) iPhones. No wait, they use it as a bludgeon to keep third parties in line (and create vendor lock-in).
> Making web lose -> make users unhappy in short term
Sure, it decreases user satisfaction for a SUBSET of users, who care about web apps. This subset seems to be strategically negligible for Apple. This is a trade-off which is absolutely rational from the shareholders/management perspective.
>It's totally awesome how Google created its Play store so that it seamlessly works on competing platforms
Your fanboyism shows. This thread is not about Google, also a corporation which actions are driven by interests of management and shareholders.
iOS users invest hundreds of dollars in apps and games and enjoy exclusive products. This creates a very significant barrier to switch to another mobile platform.
Quite obviously increased switching costs for users are important for iOS to maintain leadership in platform wars.
Therefore, rapid advancement of web apps user experience to the level of native apps in some categories would be detrimental to Apple's competitive positions.
Making web lose -> stronger competitive advantage.