1. A method comprising: instantiating a gesture object for an application to handle gesture recognition for the application through native gesture functionality provided by a computing device; associating the gesture object with interaction inputs and a target element specified by the application such that the interaction inputs directed to the target element are offloaded to the gesture object configured for the application, the target element representing a selectable element rendered by the computing device; creating a recognizer on behalf of the application to facilitate gesture recognition through the native gesture functionality provided by the computing device; feeding interaction input data for the interaction inputs to the recognizer to enable recognition of gestures corresponding to the application based on the interaction input data; obtaining gesture event messages from the recognizer that are indicative of recognized gestures for the application; processing raw gesture data described by the gesture event messages on behalf of the application using the gesture object; and firing gesture events having processed gesture data to the associated target element in accordance with a content model for the application such that the recognized gestures conveyed via the gesture event messages are applied to the target element.