I wouldn't say we were getting along fine without it. There were some pretty big privacy breaches[1], which helped move Apple forward. I think Google and Android are great, but on this topic they have held out for as long as possible, it seems[2].

[1] http://www.cnet.com/news/path-shares-photos-oh-and-uploads-y...

[2] http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/dec/20/android-ap...