While we were waiting for the perfect cross-platform solution, we underestimated the web standards that we've always had in front of us, and are slowly becoming the perfect, powerful common denominator.
Modern systems sandbox both application access for security exploit reasons as well as user privacy reasons. The web lets apps talk to one another arbitrarily, embed one another in frames, and so on.
Because of this, hardware access will always be significantly more constrained than store-reviewed apps.