• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, February 4, 2013

Apps will increasingly be built with a hybrid of Web-based and native programming languages as companies seek to support a range of devices and platforms among workers, according to a new Gartner report.

With the BYOD (bring your own device) trend gaining momentum, enterprises will design apps to be more flexible by combining the portability of HTML5 Web apps within a native “container” that eases access to native device features like notifications, mapping and a camera.

"Our advice would be to assume the enterprise will have to manage a large and diverse set of mobile applications that will span all major architectures," said Van Baker, research VP at Gartner, in a release. The firm predicts that by 2016, half of all apps will be hybrids.

Its report also forecasts that by next year Apple will be as accepted as Microsoft is today by IT departments. While iPhones and iPads are already part of the enterprise landscape, Mac laptop and desktop computers still aren’t. That’s expected to change.

"Going forward, Apple will continue to benefit from consumerization and will continue to evolve Macs to take on more iOS characteristics, which will contribute to acceptance of Macs in the enterprise,” said David Mitchell Smith, VP and a Gartner Fellow.

Among other predictions, Gartner says the first $50 smartphone will appear in emerging countries such as China this year as a result of pricing pressure and reduced development costs for simpler devices.