For a long time, iOS didn't have multitasking. If Steve Jobs heard that complaint from someone and replied, "We think we know what is best", would that person have thrown their hands up exasperated? Sometimes, visionaries are right, sometimes they are wrong. Sometimes, the customer is right, sometimes the customer is wrong. It's sometimes a crapshoot.
"We know what we're doing" basically was Apple's response to multitasking. They said the iPhone worked well enough. Once they figured out a good way to do it, one they were happy with, they released it.
It's not a perfect comparison. The iPhone worked quite well without multi-tasking, I had one. It wasn't a big problem. On the other hand, having to always swap tapes half-way through a movie would be a deal breaker for most people. Sony eventually addressed that, but it was too late.
