I suspect we have different definitions of 'unique' and/or 'application', because this sounds to me like someone saying the need for tyres is unique to cars that have wheels.

Perhaps. Do you consider a Paint or Paint.NET clone to be an application? A calculator? A clock/weather app? A game where you throw birds at pigs? These are all samples of potentially native applications that do not require login and can be implemented as web pages.

How about services that already require you have an account? You have to log into a Twitter or Facebook or Linkedin client even if you install it as a native application.

I don't care that native apps require work to install. We've already accepted that as a premise. What I'm saying is that web apps have setup costs too, and therefore saying you don't have to install them is disingenuous.

If all you require to get through the day is an online paint clone, a calculator, a clock/weather app and a game where you throw birds at pigs, more power to you - I'm glad you've been able to shave a few seconds off your day.