>Are you sure this isn't a tech industry viewpoint? I don't know anyone who knows what the difference between an app and a PWA is. I don't think I've seen anyone outside of the tech industry with a PWA active.
The more important context is the legal one, not what laypeople think.
Companies can quite happily hold two opposing viewpoints when it suits them. Apple's products usually have some kind of pleasing consistency but that doesn't mean their corporate dealings have to be.
In a similar vein, a startup will be very happy to talk about how valuable it is, except when it comes to talking to tax authorities, whereupon suddenly their shares are borderline worthless.
Eh, this is at least a little different. Startups talk themselves up to investors where they need to convince the investors that they will be really valuable at some point in the future. This is compared to tax authorities who are only concerned about current value, which is often essentially zero when it comes to startups.
Because they have already been heavily invested in and are cross platform. Sure, Apple has already been fucking over PWAs by refusing to implement certain web standards, but they still promoted them and they are heavily used in certain industries.
The more important context is the legal one, not what laypeople think.
Apple is presenting PWAs as viable alternatives to the app store in a legal context: https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Apple%20Pty%20Limited%2...