Actually, this is my favourite part about it. It's fast and it has its priorities in the right spot: me, as a developer. If you don't like Chrome, well, then don't use Chrome :)
Another point I would like to make is Apple's ridiculous refusal to allow anything other than Safari on the App Store. I feel that this is holding back the web more than anything, at the moment.
1. Were engaging in anti-competitive behavior.
2. Had an effective monopoly.
Chrome Packaged Apps allow developers to build alternative browsers using Native Client.
Just no one has bothered to do so because it wouldn't make much of an impact, plus alternate browsers wouldn't be able to set themselves as the default browser.
(Or are you suggesting that some competitor will write a browser in JavaScript, which be disallowed from the appstore.)
Perhaps a little exaggerated? Sure, it'd be nice if Apple were a little more welcoming to products from other vendors that are in the same market as their own but personally I feel isn't such a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
If the MAS was the only way to get software on Apple computers (as the app store on is on iOS where chrome is available) it'd be another matter.
> iOS where chrome is available
That is a chrome shell for the safari engine. Not actual chrome.
Similarly, iOS Firefox.
While it's great to have some choice, from a developer's point of view these browsers aren't especially interesting.
The other problem is that given their track record on the desktop, Google and Mozilla are highly unlikely to prioritize battery life the way Apple does, and if Chrome or Firefox cuts into someone's battery in a big way they're more likely to point fingers at iOS and Apple than at third party vendors. It's the same problem that Flash on iOS presented except not quite as severe.