Web technology is great for many things. Replicating a native app experience is not one of them.
There are certain apps like Photoshop, After Effects and Lightroom that still need native. But most of the rest, not so much. I still use a native code editor but I can see that disappearing soon.
I suppose one problem in discussing this is the image of 'native' app each of us has in our heads. Is it 'iTunes'? No longer need that. Google Play or Amazon Cloud music let met access all my music everywhere. Is it Office? For some users they probably still need it but most of them will have a better experience with something online.
Is it iOS apps? Which ones? Games? There's a few high-end iOS games. Most of the rest are available as web apps though or certainly reasonable clones. Is it all the native web substitutes like the G+ or Facebook app, the Twitter or Forsquare app. The Yelp, Amazon or IMDB app? All of those are a waste of bits. Frustrating because in their quest to simplify they always leave out important features. Waste because their mobile websites provide the same features. The only thing hobbling those apps are a few more browser features and ability to put them in the app stores even if they happen to just be bookmarks.
> Why would I want a native app when Web apps are so much
> more awesome?
Yep.
The client-side environment is far too unstable to build a "native app". There's a reason why monumental frameworks like ExtJS barely work in IE 9.