This was mostly true for Gingerbread and even Froyo and Eclair too (that's as far as my personal experience goes). YouTube, maps, play store etc. got several major updates on their own schedule and many new Google apps were released for them.

Android and iOS have different development models, if that isn't taken into account then comparisons are meaningless. Google often gives people the chance to opt into beta or dev releases, by this standard nearly every desktop Chrome user is two versions behind the latest release.

BTW, Chrome is available from the store, though webvew isn't (yet).