> it benefits them only indirectly by making iOS a more attractive choice Since you agree it benefits them - and your use of the word "only" is deceptive here;

> it benefits them only indirectly by making iOS a more attractive choice Since you agree it benefits them - and your use of the word "only" is deceptive here; having the best app catalog is no marginal thing, it is an enormous benefit, often cited as the primary reason Android tablets have struggled and why WP7 failed - why don't you think that benefit - which exists primarily because HTML5 still sucks for mobile apps - incentivises them not to improve browsers? It would be trivial for both Google and Apple to remove a large number of the barriers to HTML5 apps replacing native apps. But they don't, and it's been long enough that time is not an excuse.