I agree with most of the criticisms in the article, but copy/paste is just one of those things that is never going to be 100% reflexive or intuitive on a touchscreen.
Sure someone can Google "how do I copy paste on an iPhone", or maybe Apple could somehow make the feature more intuitive (they probably can't as you say), but fundamentally the user is required to understand that:
* The iPhone is a computer underneath
* Computers have standard sets of features for text manipulation, one of which is copy paste.
* Being a computer, the iPhone should likely also have this functionality implemented in some way.
If you don't understand these three things then why would you assume that there would be ANY implementation of copy paste? My Mom didn't understand that copy paste as a concept was a thing
This is why the educational programs that the grandparent poster was talking about are important and it's a shame that they're gone.
It's a lot easier than trying to precisely aim your fat meat fingers on the itty bitty text!