>I would agree with you if not for the fact that a lot of these popular "native apps" are just webpages within a native wrapper, which kind of defeats your argument.

This doesn't seem true at all. What popular "native" apps are you talking about? The most popular native apps couldn't exist on the web on the early days. YouTube couldn't work on the web due to the dependence on Flash. Instagram couldn't exist without camera access (and arguably fast image processing which JS couldn't do at the time). The technology to build some of the most downloaded apps like Words With Friends or Angry Birds could not be done on the web.

Amazon's app is an example.

PWAs were crippled by the mobile operating system vendor with 60% of the mobile OS marketshare in the US. PWAs didn't happen because Apple doesn't want them to compete fairly with native apps on iOS.

I would say that in the beginning most apps weren’t that way- precisely because of the issues with building rich web apps. Now that it’s possible to replicate a lot of the “native” feel on the web, more apps are choosing the “wrap in a webview” approach as it vastly simplifies the development process across web and multiple mobile/desktop platforms.

Agreed on the control- another thing to consider at least in this crowd is that Safari content filters (aka ad blockers) aren’t applied in apps.

> Brands and vendors don't like the web because often they cannot 100% control (...)

App permissions exist to do the same for native apps.