I've built a few mobile "reader" applications for large media clients and the main reason they use native apps is for offline browsing when your connection goes bad, allowing a smooth reading experience. If the app doesn't do this at the very minimum then there's really no point to it.
Other things we do:
1. Add games and other content that doesn't work well across mobile browsers.
2. Allow in-app purchases of other content such as white papers or related books that fit into the devices "book shelf" application, whatever that may be.
Now for a tech perspective - If you've ever built an app on a mobile device that is based on HTML5 you'll know that the performance lags when compared to a native app. When you throw in content animations, such as in a children's interactive story book, the comparison is moot. I'll bet against anybody that thinks they can get similar performance from a web-based application on a mobile device. I've done it and I know for certain it's a terrible solution who's only benefit is to the development team and not the end user. My apps are almost 100% native now with HTML being used for content I don't want to touch, like terms and conditions and privacy statements that I pull from a website.
My point? Native apps benefit the end user if done properly. Just because some fools botched a workflow doesn't negate this.
Other things we do: 1. Add games and other content that doesn't work well across mobile browsers. 2. Allow in-app purchases of other content such as white papers or related books that fit into the devices "book shelf" application, whatever that may be.
Now for a tech perspective - If you've ever built an app on a mobile device that is based on HTML5 you'll know that the performance lags when compared to a native app. When you throw in content animations, such as in a children's interactive story book, the comparison is moot. I'll bet against anybody that thinks they can get similar performance from a web-based application on a mobile device. I've done it and I know for certain it's a terrible solution who's only benefit is to the development team and not the end user. My apps are almost 100% native now with HTML being used for content I don't want to touch, like terms and conditions and privacy statements that I pull from a website.
My point? Native apps benefit the end user if done properly. Just because some fools botched a workflow doesn't negate this.