I think you are wrong that the web matters less, and also wrong that only Google is pushing it.
First, you forgot IndexedDB, another example from the article, which disproves your point. Other examples include fullscreen and WebAssembly.
Web Components/Shadow DOM and Service Workers happen to be two technologies that Google is pushing. There are of course plenty of examples where Google is behind: Nested Workers, asm.js, ES6, etc. etc.
It might be true that the web matters less to Apple than it used to, and that isn't very surprising - Apple's native apps on iOS are massively successful, and it makes sense for Apple to focus more on that. And that does mean the web matters less on mobile, since Apple is huge there, but the web is still just as important as it always was on desktop.
The end user doesn't care about IndexedDB. Just because web folks like you push new technologies doesn't mean that those technologies matter. It doesn't mean that the web will stay forefront. People have to want to use those technologies, but most of my non-tech friends don't even surf Facebook on the web. They check Facebook on their phones. A lot of people don't even book AirBnBs on their computers.
Now, you guys can plug your fingers in your ears and call me a fanboi, but I'm just pointing out that non-tech folks don't know the difference, and they couldn't really care. The native experience on iOS massively trumps the app experience on Android, as well as the web experience on iOS and on Android.
Now for me, as a dev, I would rather code for the web than for iOS or for Android. But the wider world does not care about me. The wider world would feel that the web is much too late to the game with all these techs, when the same experience (or possibly better) was available with native apps years ago.
I do disagree with the things you said earlier: It is just not true that the web matters less, nor that Google is the only one pushing it.
The web still matters a whole lot. And many parties aside from Google are pushing it - Mozilla, Microsoft, Khronos, Khan Academy, among many others, are all pushing it forward; Google is behind in some areas, ahead in others, etc., just like everyone else.
Perhaps you assume that since mobile is important, it means the web matters less? I think it just means that in the new space of mobile, native apps matter more than the web. But that space didn't even exist before, it isn't a "loss" for the web. Native apps also matter more on game consoles, for example. But the web is still very important.
First, you forgot IndexedDB, another example from the article, which disproves your point. Other examples include fullscreen and WebAssembly.
Web Components/Shadow DOM and Service Workers happen to be two technologies that Google is pushing. There are of course plenty of examples where Google is behind: Nested Workers, asm.js, ES6, etc. etc.
It might be true that the web matters less to Apple than it used to, and that isn't very surprising - Apple's native apps on iOS are massively successful, and it makes sense for Apple to focus more on that. And that does mean the web matters less on mobile, since Apple is huge there, but the web is still just as important as it always was on desktop.