Why do we need a browser-based Emacs?
1. All the benefits of the cloud: access anywhere, always available, always backed-up.
2. The collaborative aspects are perhaps the most compelling. Think peer-programming/debugging. (see also http://jsfiddle.net/).
3. Because of 1&2, it seems inevitable to me that we will be programming in browsers 5 years from now. So I want my favorite editor to be around, too.