Steve Jobs said in the intro of the phone that the apps were "just the internet" or some such. Personally, when I heard that I just ignored the iPhone.
The steve jobs bio documents how he was deadset against native apps, even after the iphone was released. Even apple has to listen to its customers / developers every now and then. The myth that apple's moves are all part of a big plan is just that.
Sometimes it's useful to pretend that what you were going to do all along was merely a concession to outside demand.