HTML5 and Mobile are a Match Made in Heaven, but the Angels ain’t calling yet!

There is a lot of excitement surrounding HTML5 right now. As web designers and developers test themselves with what is hotly tipped to completely change the way we digest web content, mobile developers are coming to the realisation that this could be the future of mobile content delivery. In an age when the ‘app’ has dominated, HTML5 has demonstrated it can achieve just as much, if not more, as a native application. When the key message to marketers has been to ensure the broadest target audience can access their content, surely HTML5 is the way to offer this ubiquity?

Not quite.

You see, although HTML5 is demonstrating it can deliver a superb level of design and interactivity, especially with the recent Youtube mobile site, HTML5 relies heavily on the hardware and their respective browsers. You see, HTML5 will not just work on any mobile browser. Go run the HTML5 test on your mobile browser and see what happens. iPhone users using Safari will probably see quite a high score, however should they be using Opera Mini, they will not be pleased with the result.

Once again, this is another example of the mobile industry working at different speeds, and trying to oust each other. If you think developing an HTML5 mobile site is going to resolve the financial issues associated with developing cross platform mobile apps, you are very wrong. HTML5 is, without a shadow of a doubt, going to make the ‘WAP v APP’ argument a helluva lot more complicated, but in the mean time, don’t be blinded by the hype. When browser quality improves across the board, and network speeds and coverage improves, HTML5 will be a genuine consideration. In the mean time, its just a taste of whats to come.

WAP v APP rolls on…for now.