But whats the vision of this? Where are they trying to take the customer?

I feel like this issue relates back to the origin of Google (search) in the first place. It was borne out of a technology in which the founders did not envision what it would become. It seems the firm just tries ideas and then tries to figure out where it goes - thats the culture. And unsurprisingly, yields a lot of failiures.

In contrast, Apples approach yields a much higher rate of success with less risk.