Own goal?

They are good at marketing.

Downside: pisses off a few techies.

Upside: gets great unwashed to click "Download Safari" button en masse.

It's the great unwashed they're after. They know damned well that those with enough savvy to spot the con aren't their target customer base anyway. The likes of us don't need "just works", aren't prepared to pay extra for it or put up with the straightjacketing. We're quite happy to save a few quid and go with "will work perfectly well if treated with a bit of common sense".