Apple did plan to make web apps first class on iPhones. But changed their minds when developers complained about not getting hard metal access. Maybe they thought that supporting web apps would get them more apps, but developers gave them apps for free and it allowed Apple to have a monopoly. Microsoft tried the same with their phones but somehow failed... Google went the web app route on ChromeOS with decent success. Mozilla tried with FirefoxOS but was too early - FirefoxOS is now very popular but under another name on low end hardware phones.