Smartphone apps that offer a balance between HTML5-based web apps and native apps will be predominant by 2016, according to predictions from research firm Gartner.

The firm said that such apps, which it terms hybrid apps, will account for more than 50 per cent of all smartphone apps on the market in the next three years.

Gartner said that native application app development creates the best user experience and performance but often results in a fragmented set of development tools and requires that different versions must be made for each device type or platform. Meanwhile HTML5 capabilities, which address these issues, have fallen short of expectations, according to Gartner. This is causing developers to consider hybrid architectures.

“The BYOD trend and the increased pressure on organisations to deploy mobile applications to accommodate mobile work styles of employees will lead businesses to manage a portfolio of mobile application architectures, and hybrid architectures will be especially well-suited to business-to-employee applications,” said Van Baker, research vice president at Gartner.