Consumers were not mentioned in the comment. The last sentence talks about "people" which in context means members of the tech press.
* not part of the press
As a geek who uses the pretence he needs to evaluate all the platforms, I've iOS, Andriod, WP8, W8 devices. I have apps that I love which are only-on/muchbetter-on one platform. It is very hard to compare and contrast them. As much as I find my Lumia 1020 the most useful, and pleasurable to use device, I also have to have an Android or iOS tablet because of a must have app (SkyDemon if you are curious).
These shortcuts, comparing just the app count, provide a way of letting people summarise the complex underlying problem.