The Fb web app was originally hailed as a triumph for web technologies, e.g. HTML5, which some believed was going to kill the app store model. Fb's web-centric (versus app-centric) employees would be susceptible to this view - they probably the move was viewed as being in the long-run best interest of the users. One can imagine an alternative outcome where competitive pressures forced Apple to upgrade its web application functionality to where the Fb app became not only competitive with native apps but, owing to its head start, shone as brightly as its first native app did in the app store.
With the benefit of hindsight the move was biased by ideology. The takeaway should be pragmatism over ideology and intellectual aesthetics, not the super-prioritisation of UX.
Note that around the same time, the Financial Times jumped off iOS and went pure HTML5. For them this turned out to be a good move - it is a delight to use.
With the benefit of hindsight the move was biased by ideology. The takeaway should be pragmatism over ideology and intellectual aesthetics, not the super-prioritisation of UX.
Note that around the same time, the Financial Times jumped off iOS and went pure HTML5. For them this turned out to be a good move - it is a delight to use.