Will Apple Release a Framework For iPhone Web Apps Code-Named PastryKit?

It’s reported that Apple may have created a framework for the development of web apps on the iPhone.

This is exciting news for web developers that don’t write in Objective C (the language currently used to build iPhone apps on Apple’s Cocoa frameworks) or developers who just don’t want to go through the arduous app approval process.

If you’re familiar with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript you’d be able to create apps for the iPhone without having to start over with a new language.  With HTML 5 and the implementation of data storage, web apps can be used online and offline.

The web app framework code-named “PastryKit” apparently gives users a more native app experience with the removal of the address bar and a snappier response to scrolling, similar to the feel of scrolling through your native contact list.

When the PastryKit web app is saved as a bookmark and launched from the home screen the safari toolbar you normally see at the bottom is also eliminated.

John Gruber at Daring Fireball points out that although we’ve previously seen web development tools for the iPhone they’ve failed to provide solutions for scrolling speeds and fixed-position elements.

“There do exist some open source frameworks for iPhone web app developers, so that one need not start from scratch implementing things to mimic Cocoa Touch UI elements. iUI, started by Joe Hewitt just a few weeks after the original iPhone debuted in July 2007, is one. jQTouch, by David Kaneda and based on jQuery, is another. (Showtime is built using jQTouch.)
But these frameworks don’t solve the problem with scrolling speed/friction, or fixed-position elements.” -John Gruber

Daring Fireball has posted a video demonstrating the tool created by Apple.
You can also view the example at http://help.apple.com/iphoneuserguide on your iPhone.

Daring Fireball spells out the benefits of using the PastryKit:

Completely hides the address bar, even when running not from a saved-to-the-home app icon, but within a page in MobileSafari itself.

Allows for fixed-position toolbars that never budge from the top when you scroll.

And: sets its own scrolling friction coefficient, allowing you to fling long lists.

To clarify, Apple has not actually released this framework, they’ve only created a web app that demonstrates the above mentioned abilities.  Here’s hoping they’ll release the framework into the wild.  It would be great to see Apple embracing an alternative to it’s walled garden app experience.
Source-  9 to 5 mac and Daring Fireball