Great discussion at 9:30 this morning about what’s the right app to have: Native or Web. There was some full out disagreement and lively back-and-forth on the panel + a bat decided to liven the event with a fly by.

Panelists:

Buzz Andersen, Dir of Mobile, Tumblr
Jacob Bijani, Prod Engineer, Tumblr
Majd Taby, Software Engineer, Facebook
Matthew Delaney, WebKit Engineer, (formerly at Apple)
Tom Dale, Sr Software Engineer, Ember.js

Some take-aways:

- Hybrid applications may seem like a great solution, but really they are “a road fraught with danger” according to Taby. If you are trying to make an app quickly and update-able, Hybrid still has all the difficulties of Native.

- PhoneGap is not the answer. Uncanny Valley effect with web apps that have native looking controls. “Let mobile web apps be proper web apps, native scrolling is tough to emulate,” said Dale. Taby actually agreed and said when people open mobile safari/web browser they understand that it is going to be a different experience.

“It’s like getting served steak dinner in a bathroom, context matters,” said Dale.