You can do this right now, it's called Apache Cordova(Phonegap) or Appcelerator. He's right, without giving a web app a more direct interface into your device, they can't compete with web connected "native apps".
It is not that you can't write highly complex native feeling things in HTML and JS, it's that without real native hooks (both UI and hardware), it is simply impossible to do things from the web that a user would expect their device to be able to do.
If the user expects to be able to do something and they can't, it is a bad experience and they find a better alternative, which right now means "native apps".
It is not that you can't write highly complex native feeling things in HTML and JS, it's that without real native hooks (both UI and hardware), it is simply impossible to do things from the web that a user would expect their device to be able to do.
If the user expects to be able to do something and they can't, it is a bad experience and they find a better alternative, which right now means "native apps".