Steve Job envisioned the iphone as a smartphone that was easy to use for the mass consumer. That, amongst many things, meant that they should be able to simply "leave certain decisions to the discretion of the operating system", rather than being bugged with having to make decisions at every turn.
We see this in a variety of decisions made in the OS.
Multitasking, for one (it automatically freezes apps in the background to save power so users don't have to bother about force-closing them, but it also means you can't leave certain tasks running in the background, like exporting a video clip via iMovie).
Then there's flash. Or the inability to sideload 3rd party apps. The list goes on. It will definitely irritate a few people, but the whole idea is that Apple removed one layer of decision-making that uses would have to conscientiously make. Between these 2 alternatives, I daresay Apple chose the lesser of the 2 evils.
In short, the whole allure of IOS is its simplicity, that consumers trust Apple to make these decisions for them so they didn't have to. They spend less time managing their devices, leaving more time to actually use them in a meaningful manner.
The reason why you detest IOS is exactly the reason why others love it. That's why we have Android. And that's why, with so many platforms, consumers are able to go with a device that best suits their needs. And we are all better off for it.