"they provide an alternative, but do not, and can not, replace it." Defacto they do replace it if many users switch to it. Then apple has lost control of the phone and the core experience. They don't want that. To say they are lying is silly. At most they are dumb - but they're not. They know exactly what they are rejecting and it makes perfect sense. Apple is going to control and provide certain core functionality. third party apps get the rest. some overlap with apple provided stuff is OK - eg notepad apps But apple wants to keep the core stuff for itself.