They told people just to make html5 webpages for the first year or so of the iPhone.
The first third party native apps were people who managed to get the gcc toolchain to emit a binary that the iPhone could run.
Then the App Store came out a few months later. Native apps caught on very well over just making html5 sites for iPhone users, because, in a lot of cities, AT&T's network just couldn't support all the users' very well. Even then, you were limited to a max of something like 20 (?).
The first third party native apps were people who managed to get the gcc toolchain to emit a binary that the iPhone could run.
Then the App Store came out a few months later. Native apps caught on very well over just making html5 sites for iPhone users, because, in a lot of cities, AT&T's network just couldn't support all the users' very well. Even then, you were limited to a max of something like 20 (?).