HTML 5: Facebook's biggest mistake

Mark Zuckerberg admits, Facebook backed the wrong horse.
In Mark Zuckerberg's first public interview since Facebook's IPO, the CEO said that going all-in on HTML 5 for its mobile offering was the company's biggest error.
Facebook was one of the first big companies to make the move to HTML 5, not just for its mobile web, but also its iOS and Android apps.
However at TechCrunch Disrupt, Zuck said: "The biggest mistake we made as a company was betting too much on HTML5 as opposed to native. It just wasn’t ready."
Facebook went with HTML 5 on the basis that it would be easier to develop for multiple platforms and different screen sizes, delivering an experience similar to that of a native app. However, reality bit hard when it transpired that stability and speed were not up to par.
Zuckerberg says that now, Facebook is focused on improving the native mobile experience on iOS, as well as delivering a native app for Android.
During the same conference, Zuckerberg also made it clear once again that talk of a Facebook phone is internet rumour and little else.
He said: "Let’s say we build a phone. We’re not, but if we did, we could maybe get 10 to 20 million people to use it … It doesn’t move the needle for us.
“The strategy we have is different from every other tech company [like Apple] that’s building their own hardware system — we’re going in the opposite direction.
“We want to build a system, which is as deeply as possible integrated into every major device people want to use.”
He continued: “It’s easy for people to underestimate how good mobile is for us. We’ve transitioned, and now we’re a mobile company.”

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