This doesn't explain why PWAs are still a rarity on Android though. You'd think that the ability to target both desktop (web) and Android (web/PWA) would've attracted more developer interest.
I can't really comment on other companies, but my company is currently moving our product from MVP to a more mature project. When comparing various options (PWAs/web, Flutter, React, Native), PWAs/web was immediately discarded as an option because we didn't believe we could deliver the level of UX excellence we're targeting. Nor did we believe that PWAs would be any easier to develop and maintain than two native apps.
Perhaps the strongest argument in favour of the web is that it's a lot easier to hire web devs than iOS and Android developers. But that's all moot if the web can't deliver the product experience we're targeting.
We're still considering React, but I feel like we're inevitability going to end up building a full native experience.
Generally speaking, I feel that PWAs and the web have a long way to go in terms of tooling, performance and UX excellence, before companies in our position will be comfortable adopting it. At least with iOS, it's really easy to create fantastic user experiences and maintainable software as long as you're willing to follow Apple's guidelines. It's a lot more difficult to achieve the same on the web.
I can't really comment on other companies, but my company is currently moving our product from MVP to a more mature project. When comparing various options (PWAs/web, Flutter, React, Native), PWAs/web was immediately discarded as an option because we didn't believe we could deliver the level of UX excellence we're targeting. Nor did we believe that PWAs would be any easier to develop and maintain than two native apps.
Perhaps the strongest argument in favour of the web is that it's a lot easier to hire web devs than iOS and Android developers. But that's all moot if the web can't deliver the product experience we're targeting.
We're still considering React, but I feel like we're inevitability going to end up building a full native experience.
Generally speaking, I feel that PWAs and the web have a long way to go in terms of tooling, performance and UX excellence, before companies in our position will be comfortable adopting it. At least with iOS, it's really easy to create fantastic user experiences and maintainable software as long as you're willing to follow Apple's guidelines. It's a lot more difficult to achieve the same on the web.