There is a clear distinction between a mobile application and a mobile web application. Mobile applications are natively compiled applications that run on mobile devices, mobile web applications are regular web applications designed to run on mobile devices.

Both have their place. Some companies driven by directors and managers who don't really understand this occasionally get blindsided and feel it's necessary to build mobile applications where mobile web applications will do.

If your application has a specific function and relies on components of the mobile device that are only accessible by the native SDK, then create a mobile application.

If your application is basic and doesn't require any of this functionality, a web application will do.