The article, when talking about the simple 'Technical' reason why web can't beat the 'native' falls flat. When most people talk about 'Web', they just mean 'Browser' - and a browser is native. The extra layer, yes, the rendering engine/JS framework - how are they very different from JVM and XAML in theory? Both add an extra layer. Are Android apps not native according to the author because it adds a layer too?