At the time they merely shipped the browser with the OS. I don't think this would even raise an eyebrow now. They were also accused of adding new features only in IE which forced websites to deal with incompatible browsers. /s of course this is a problem developers do not need to deal with anymore!
The Microsoft we are dealing with now gives you warnings if you are trying to install another browser and makes it difficult to change your default browser. And in that space Apple has done way worse: breaking internet standards by deprecating flash (and other unsupported features), banning 3rd party browsers on iOS completely. And using their dominant position to force the deprecation of internet standards is another thing google is not shy about either.