July 13, 2015

The Future of HTML5: More Questions than Answers

App developers, gamers, and even business professionals are all wondering what the future has in store for software. While certain aspects of app consumption seem to point the compass needle away from HTML5’s prominence—for example, the undeniable clout of the app store—other nascent innovations are indicative of a brand new age for browser-based applications—i.e. WebRTC. Needless to say, there are many more questions than answers surrounding the future of HTML5.

Unfortunately, only time will tell where the HTML5 ship is bound. The good news, however, is that the innovators manning the helm are doing everything in their power to chart a course that makes the most sense with users’ demands—and many of them will soon be gathered in one place at DevCon5 HTML5 & Mobile App Developer Conference, in New York starting July 20.

Alexey Goloshubin (NewsAlert), CEO/CTO of Bit6—experts in integrating communication into applications—will be among them. We took a moment to pick Goloshubin’s brain by posing some broad questions regarding the unwritten future of app development. His insights are valuable:

For you, what has changed in your mobile software development in the last year?

For Bit6, the biggest shift was in embracing WebRTC technology to enable real-time communications capabilities into both Web and mobile application software. Additionally, we invested in building a Cordova wrapper for our platform, allowing developers to quickly build mobile apps for multiple platforms off of a single code base.

Which is changing faster, the power of the phones or the framework of the phone's software?

We believe that the framework for the phone’s software is growing and changing even faster than the power of the phones. New standards, technologies, and APIs are being developed everyday that allow developers to integrate more and more complex capabilities into mobile apps, but also leverage cloud technology to deliver the experience.

We have lots of HTML5 games being made, but the app store still dominates. Will this always be the way?

On mobile devices, users are conditioned to use apps/app stores for the best mobile experience, and currently the browser/HTMLl5 experience on mobile typically isn’t as good.  As the experience gets better, there may be more opportunity for HTML5 on mobile, but app store will likely continue to dominate.

For Enterprise developers taking advantage of mobility; what are downsides of app vs. browser distribution?

Likely the biggest downside of an app store distribution method is that it has to conform to the rules and regulations of the app store. And the rules are different across different platforms (iTunes, Google (News Alert) Play, etc.). Utilizing a browser distribution, a developer has much greater flexibility in the marketing and capabilities of the app itself.

What are you looking forward to/hoping to learn at the upcoming DevCon5 conference in New York?

I’m looking forward to connecting with some of the leading application developers and technologists to see what challenges they are facing and how they might be able to utilize/leverage real-time communications technology in their applications.

Edited by Stefania Viscusi


HTML 5 Demos and Examples



The HTML5 test


Working Draft (WHATWG)


HTML5 Flip Book
