ReadWriteWeb

At this year's Google I/O developer conference, the Internet search giant made a surprising announcement: not only was the company releasing a Web-connected "cloud" operating system called "Chrome OS," it would also include an app store called the "Chrome Web Store" which would help users discover, purchase and install Web applications from a central location.

However, you don't have to wait until Chrome OS debuts to install Chrome Web apps - you can test a few of them now by using a Chrome developer build or Chromium, the open-source browser behind Google Chrome.

Last week I had the chance to attend Qualcomm's Uplinq 2010 conference in San Diego where I was able to sit it on several interesting discussions about mobile technology and its future. One of the sessions I was particularly interested in was a chat about the tools being created to improve web development optimized for mobile devices. Qualcomm engineer Bijan Amirzada showed off some interesting new capabilities within mobile Web browsers, but one assertion he made has since been stuck in my mind: will Web-based apps eventually dethrone native applications on mobile devices?

In what can only be touted as "better late than never" news, Internet giant Yahoo! is today, at long last, launching its first ever applications designed for Android-based smartphones. There are now a trio of new apps available in the Android Market: a Yahoo! Mail app, Yahoo! Messenger app and a Yahoo! Search widget. Each of these applications have been built "from the ground up" for the Android platform, a company blog post proclaims, and they work on any Android phone running OS version 2.0 or higher.

Alongside the launch of these new Android apps, the company is also announcing the arrival of revamped Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! News mobile Web apps, designed with iPhone and iPhone Touch users in mind.

Web apps are not exactly secure. IBM tracks 9 billion events per day. They see 150 million intrusion attempts on a daily basis.

Of the vulnerabilities they see, 49% come from web apps. Of the 49%, about 67% of those vulnerabilities never get patched.

So, what happens when the physical world is controlled by networks that connect with on-premise and cloud environments?

The debate between native mobile apps and HTML5 mobile web apps is probably not very important in the minds of most consumers - but it's big for developers. Starting today the venture funded iPhone app recommendation app Chomp now includes both in its search and social recommendations. That means more and different apps for users.

Mobile Web apps don't require Apple's approval to be accessible, but for now Chomp is limiting its index to the thousands of mobile Web apps that have been checked and approved by Apple. (Did you know Apple maintained a list of approved mobile Web apps?) None the less, it's an important development in the app ecosystem.

Google has released a preliminary developer's guide to aid those interested in porting their Web or mobile applications to Google TV, the newly announced platform built on top of Google Chrome technology. With Google TV, "television is no longer confined to showing just video" explains Salahuddin Choudhary, Google TV product manager, in a blog post. "It can be a photo slideshow viewer, a gaming console, a music player and much more."

But how does one build a working application for Google TV?

A post on the Mozilla blog yesterday has the company, makers of the Firefox Web browser, pondering the creation of an "open" Web application store and imagining what such a store should look like. Although the musings come across as a bit "me-too"-ish considering that Google just announced its own Chrome Web Store earlier this week, it's hard to argue with the principles Mozilla sets forth. An open Web app store should "exclusively host web applications based upon...other widely implemented open standards in modern web browsers," reads the post. It should "be open and accessible" and "set forth...guidelines and processes that are transparent."

Of course it should. But the subtext here is that Mozilla is proposing a Web App Store that's open, as if Google is not doing the same. But is that the truth?

The number of apps hosted on the Ruby platform Heroku has increased 50 percent since November, pointing out how cloud-based platforms are becoming the norm for the capabilities the services provide in terms of testing and reliability.

Heroku had more than 40,000 apps on its platform last November. Now more than 60,000 apps are using the Heroku service.

Heroku's success is not alone. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Rackspace are rapidly expanding. AWS announced its expansion to the Asia Pacific region this past week. In its announcement, AWS featured Kim Eng, one of Asia'a largest security brokers. The firm said the availability of the AWS service helped minimize its latency for its KE Trade iPhone application.

Much of this blog's coverage centers on technology and companies based in the U.S, particularly in Silicon Valley.

However, thriving tech communities exist around the globe, from Toronto to Tel Aviv, and the success of internationally-based web products serve as a reminder to all of us that innovation knows no borders. Check out our picks for the top 10 international web products of 2009 and let us know your favorite international apps in the comments.

Every year at ReadWriteWeb, we look at hundreds of new web apps aimed at everyday users. Occasionally, we come across a service that stands out from the pack because it offers a novel solution, disrupts the way incumbent market leaders do business or changes the way we experience the Web.

Here is our list of the top 10 consumer web apps of 2009. These are apps and services that helped consumers use the web in new ways this year; and brought technologies that were previously only geared towards advanced users to a mainstream audience.