It’s the ecosystem lockin. One thing I always have to remind myself is that Apple doesn’t give nearly as much thought to me as they do my parents and sisters. They are after mainstream users with simple interface, ease of use, and tight integration. A lot of mainstream users a going to stick with the stock experience, especially if it improves. There are many more of them than there are of us.

Also, Apple now sees Google as a competitor, and they made it clear with the release of iOS 6 that they aren’t giving any more free rides. Google will have default search in Safari, but that’s it, at this point. After the rumors of Apple having discussions with Yahoo’s Marissa Meyer, it wouldn’t shock me at all to see automatic web search search come to Siri. But I guarantee that search engine would never be Google. Apple is going to do everything they can to turn off that water.

While I don’t necessarily agree with Apple’s tactics, I think they’ve been pretty clear. They aren’t going to play nice. There may be some areas where I could see Apple loosening their grip in the future, but default apps isn’t one of them. I think that is the last thing Apple will ever change, based on their previous actions.