NIWEA or The Web is Dead - can we lubricate that app economy?

Some say "The Web is Dead" (like http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip_debate/), that where innovation really happens today is in the field of iPhone-, iPad- or maybe, maybe Android-"Apps" and that "app economies" are where real money is to be made. They say that controlled and curated environments such as provided by Apple trump the chaotic, half-standardized way of the web - with a better user experience and with entirely new capabilities.

In this workshop we're goiing to explore an alternative: NIWEA, Native Interoperable Web Apps (http://liip.to/niwea). We'll work out the current capabilities of an upcoming software development paradigm and take a closer look at cutting-edge technologies that bridge the gap between your gorgeous hardware and the world of the web. We'll see how we can use standard web tech to build great apps that run on all those cool devices, leveraging their unique capabilities, online and offline, with or without a browser.

In order to find out where we stand in that rapidly changing area, we'll together map that complex territory from a number of different perspectives: what does the "NIWEA" paradigm mean from a software engineering point of view? What could it mean strategically and financially? And what about the user experience? Where are the dangerous "dragons" on that map, where are the big unknowns, and how might it look in one or perhaps five years?

At the end we'll wrap up the session with a presentation by the different map-making groups and a set of demos demonstrating interesting points in that landscape - so do bring your apps!