at $DAYTIMEJOB, our website offers optimised iphone interface and we also have a dedicated app. ignoring the bottleneck trying to get the app approved by Apple, then yes, the dedicated App can be much more fulfilling than the web interface even with lots of Ajax

why do you need an app for the iphone? because it doesn't support flash. we could do pretty much all our iphone app in flash and it'd work just as well and be much more platform agnostic, much like the website works without too much tweaking of CSS for iphone/ipod, nokia phone and android.

apple have pulled off a very cunning stunt: persuading their fan base that flash is not necessary, that DRM and locking down of apps is essential to maintain quality (so what happened to the admob premium rate phone dialler eh?) and thus creating a market that they alone control.

if apple made cars, they'd run only on apple-approved iGas, could only be repaired by apple iMechanics (I am trying to get a mac mini repaired out of warranty, so I know how bad it is), and would require you have a special iGarage at home in order to park it, and the radio would have no CD only tune to approved apple radio stations.