If this is the case and webapps are the way of the future, why doesn't Android include a way to package a web app for deployment through the market and to have an icon that can be used on the device like any other native app?

As far as I know, right now web apps have to be accessed through the browser, which means setting up bookmarks and web apps have very little access to the hardware on the device.

Perhaps what the article should be saying is that we should develop for WebOS because it's all HTML/CSS/JS and therefore much easier to develop for since it's all web-based.