There is no point in launching a “web app store” just for the sake of countering Google’s move. The web is a pretty good way to distribute web apps already, and if there is going to be a new distribution mechanism, it should have clear advantages over the status quo. In the case of the Chrome Web Store, Google’s blog post cites a few concrete advantages: easier discovery of quality web apps, increased permissions for installed apps and a new business model for developers (specifically, selling apps directly to users).

Easier discovery is a no-brainer, but of course this could be accomplished by a simple web app directory that links directly to various apps on the web. There’s no need to “install” apps to achieve this. There has to be more to a web app store than this. In particular, I love the idea of charging (optionally) for apps. Developers need to eat, and plastering web pages with ads shouldn’t be the only way for them to monetize the fruits of their labor. At one point I thought long and hard about starting a business around a marketplace for Prism web app bundles.

So I agree broadly with Google’s vision for their web store. But we can do better. For one thing, we can be more open, as Jay suggests, rather than using the store to lock users into a specific browser. In addition, we can take advantage of Prism’s much more mature and technically sophisticated platform for adding value to web apps when they are installed locally. After all, Google is promising to deliver something “later this year” whereas Prism web apps like Zimbra Desktop are already being used by tens of thousands of users every day.

I’m proud of what we’ve achieved so far with Prism despite limited development resources. Now is the time to start experimenting with other ideas as web apps continue to meld with traditional desktop apps. How should web apps be discovered and delivered? What does it mean to “install” a web app locally? What new capabilities (and associated APIs) are needed for web apps to rival their desktop equivalents, beyond what is already offered by HTML5? How might a web app payment model function? I believe Prism would be a great vehicle for Mozilla to tease out and play with potential answers to these questions.

• Chrome uptake tails off quickly (with more gloomy commentary at Giga Om). I’ve been running cold and hot on Chrome’s market potential, but with the steady hand of hindsight (backed up by statistics) to prop me up, I’ll stick with my original assertion that there simply isn’t much room in the market for a new browser brand. Google should focus on making Chrome an awesome single-site browser. I suspect that, once market realities set in, they may well do this.
• I learned a lot from this interview about HTML 5 with Ian Hickson. Just one thing: 2022? Really? I’m all for setting realistic (i.e. highly pessimistic) deadlines, but let’s strap on a pair and get this puppy out the door. My long and storied experience with missing delivery dates has taught me that setting deadlines too far in the future doesn’t make it more likely that you will hit them. It just reduces urgency and makes everything take even longer.
• Ars Technica has a detailed writeup on Skyfire, a Gecko-based browser for Windows Mobile. I’m not sure that users are going to be that gung ho to install third-party browsers on their devices, but maybe Skyfire’s strategy is to cut OEM deals once they are ready. The server-side rendering idea is certainly intriguing, although it breaks a core adage of the technology sphere: never bet against Moore’s Law.
• Did you know that Google has an open source effort called Chromium that complements its Chrome browser? Oh, you did? Ah well, my fault for having such spectacularly smart, well-informed and discerning readers. Anyway, here is a veritable slew of information about the relationship between Chromium, Chrome and the Google mothership
• I’ve been hearing for many months that Adobe has Flash running on the iPhone in its labs. Well here’s confirmation (that they are, at very least, working on it). Lack of Flash is one of the things I love least about my iPhone, so I dearly hope this happens. What use is a web without Flash video and Scramble?
• Todd Ditchendorf has done a fantastic job on Fluid. Now he’s readying a new OS X browser. The feature list is hot, but the same caveats mentioned for Google Chrome apply here, minus the market-bending might of the web’s most powerful company. And why the heck is this a “social browser”? Is every new piece of software now “social” by default?
• Dion Almaer and Ben Galbraith of Ajaxian join Mozilla to head an effort creating new tools for web development. The web sorely needs better development tools. Firebug is getting more love, and Ajaxian (them again!) ran a fascinating piece today about JS Bin, a pastebin variant that enables collaborative development of JavaScript code. Methinks I spot a trend.

Now, based on some tests run by one of its readers, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is suggesting that the next iPhone firmware release will include support for offline storage.  As speculation goes, this is pretty plausible. If true, it would represent a huge step forward for Safari as an alternative to the recently announced iPhone SDK. Once I can run my apps without constant network connectivity and store data locally where appropriate, the advantages of web apps will start to shine through: ease of installation, adherence to standards, multiplatform support and the like. Many web developers who might be disinclined to learn XCode and Cocoa will be in a much better position to get their apps on the iPhone, with the assurance that they will also run on OS X and even Windows (provided users succumb to the pressure to install Safari).

It’s interesting that Apple is relying on HTML 5 to launch its attack. In a way this positions it as an ally of Opera and Mozilla, the other vendors most committed to the standard. Interoperability with other browsers will be a powerful stick to beat up Adobe and Microsoft. And Apple doubtless believes that its formidable engineering muscle and control of the iPhone platform will give it a leg up when it comes to gaining market share down the road from its current comrades-in-arms.