What FUD. "Oh no, an application doesn't use the web! This must be an attack on the open web!" What a crock. Hyperbolic click-bait. The article does not fulfill the promises of the title, the byline is completely unsubstantiated, and the author's conclusions, such as they are, are completely unfounded. At most, the only correct points of the article are that A) Apple is attacking Google by having a Maps desktop app, B) a desktop app can be a better experience than a web app, and C) information may - and often more by design rather than by technical limitation - flow less freely through native apps than web apps.
From that to "Apple is making an attack on the open web, accelerating its walled garden strategy..." is an illogical leap that someone trying push an angle or sell ads could make.