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Chapter 1: Introducing Safari/WebKit Development for iPhone 3.0
Figure 1-2: Safari on iPhone preferences
Quite obviously, native apps and Web apps are not identical — both from developer and end-user
standpoints. From a developer standpoint, the major difference is the programming language — uti-
lizing Web technologies rather than Objective-C. However, there are also key end-user implications,
including these:
Performance: The performance of a Safari-based Web application is not going to be as respon-
sive as a native compiled application, both because of the interpretive nature of web scripting
as well as the fact that the application operates over Wi-Fi and 3G networks. (Remember, iPod
touch supports Wi-Fi access only.) However, in spite of the technological constraints, you can
perform many optimizations to achieve acceptable performance. (Several of these techniques
are covered in Chapter 13, “Bandwidth and Performance Optimizations.”)
Table 1-1 shows the bandwidth performance of Wi-Fi, 3G, and the older EDGE networks.
Table 1-1: Network Performance
Network Bandwidth
Wi-Fi 54 Mbps
3G Up to 7.2 Mbps
EDGE 70–135 Kbps, 200 Kbps burst
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