One of Apple's crowning achievements after the iPhone was the launch of its accompanying App Store. It proved itself to be so successful that many other vendors have sought to emulate the company’s success, RIM and Google among them. Why is it, then, that the search giant has made some dire predictions about the fate of said stores? Is there some fatal flaw that Google has identified in them?

To the contrary, it seems Google's dismal outlook for app stores is rooted in their desire to craft a web-based world. Cloud computing is the name of the game according to the company, with cross-platform web applications being hailed by them as the downfall of app stores, which cater only to the closed environment of specific phones.

But is that really the way things will work out? Clearly web-based, phone-based and “hybrid” applications don't necessarily need to compete with each other, with obvious advantages for each in certain scenarios. What’s your take; will we see the death of app stores at the hands of online apps?