Right, it differentiates Nexus phones from non-Nexus phones and provides a reason to prefer the former (of course, there is no barrier to other phone vendors seeking to negate this advantage by duplicating the process.)
I don't jest. I owned the first Android phone from T-Mobile. I owned every Nexus phone after that up to the Nexus 5. I was tired of being the "abused spouse" who thought Google would change and one day release a product that would actually work properly for longer than a few months.
Purchased an iPhone 5s, haven't looked back. The cost of current Nexus phones are on parity with iPhones (or close enough) that cost is no longer the deciding factor. Why do people continue to put faith in a product that continually fails to deliver?
Google: I want to love your Nexus line and Android. But you're going to have to start treating customers like customers, and not just a necessary evil.
Nexus 5 Android 5.1 Data Connection Issue: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/nexus/o-UyGEC...
Nexus 5 Android 4.2.2 Data Connection Issue: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=63524
Broken Bluetooth Audio Android 4.2.x: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=39633&q=d...
Improper Handling Of Mobile Radio Causes Battery To Drain Quickly: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=165558&q=...
All currently open (2767) Nexus issues: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/list?can=2&q=nexus&...
I didn't give up on Android until I had collectively spent thousands of dollars on Nexus phones and continually had problems with each model at some point in time.
Yes, you can jailbreak your iPhone and install unsigned code. You can even set up a compiler toolchain to build your iOS apps, but you shouldn't have to do all of that just to build an app for your phone.
This is not an argument in support of Apple's approach. I just wanted to share what I'd learned about similar concerns.