The Palm Pre was announced in early 2009. The apps will be created with web techniques, using cloud services to store and sync your stuff.
Now this article: Gmail sidesteps the appstore
Let's go back to the introduction of the Original iPhone. Steve jobs stated that apps should be created using web techniques and use cloud services to store and sync stuff. All hell broke loose! That was insane! You can't create a decent application with only online storage and tools!
So, what has changed by then? The web techniques were available then already. So why don't we hear anyone complain about Palm? And why is this GMail webapp so important all of a sudden?
As an answer to the article linked above, I don't think webapps will be a thread to the appstore. They're an addition to. Some apps you still want to run locally.
Someone smarter than me please enlighten me about the conflict above though!?