Doesn't surprise me. ptrace() on the first version or two of iOS would panic the kernel with TODO messages.
Generally, XNU calls panic() at the slightest sign of trouble, while Linux tends toward more fault resilience (through the oops system, etc).
He also forgot to mention that a very large number of people were getting kernel panics from using flash in a browser. How that regression got out the door, I will never understand. It does not inspire confidence.