I prefer magic, too, if it works. I doubt it does in this case, though, and I get the impression Apple knows it hasn't nailed it yet, either. At least, elsewhere in this thread people note Apple's stuff can be overridden on a per-app basis.
I also get the impression that Apple's idea about the perfect balance between flexibility and "it just works" neighs more towards the latter than Google's ideas about it, as witnessed by some remarks that Google's Sync adapters that app developers _can_ use are exactly the same as Apple's solution that app developers _must_ use.
While I do agree that iOS isn't nearly as flexible as Android, let's just say that 90% of the time you might want to go with a Sync adapter versus rolling your own solution. Also, I believe that Apple has the best intentions at heart when it comes to implementing Background Fetching in it's current spec. I mean, lets face it, it's way better to have a mobile-optimized OS manage resources than for you to do so, don't you agree?
I also get the impression that Apple's idea about the perfect balance between flexibility and "it just works" neighs more towards the latter than Google's ideas about it, as witnessed by some remarks that Google's Sync adapters that app developers _can_ use are exactly the same as Apple's solution that app developers _must_ use.