It absolutely is intentional. And with that same intention Apple forbids other companies from writing web browsers that fix these and other issues with mobile Safari. Auto-playing audio and video in the browser is also forbidden, which prevents any sort of online music, or video app from being created, among other things.
So games, music, and video apps in mobile Safari are all hopelessly hobbled, and if you build a browser that fixes these issues you'll be banned.
"Auto-playing audio and video in the browser is also forbidden, which prevents any sort of online music, or video app from being created, among other things."
It also prevents MySpace. I consider that a Good Thing overall - I remember the period of the web where it was trivial to auto-play video and audio, and I remember that the consumer reaction to that was deeply hostile. HTML5 music/video apps certainly are an interesting thought, but you must consider what happens when you let random or malicious developers do those things too!
What are you talking about? How exactly is it malicious to build a game or build a music web app?
On desktops with Flash or the HTML5 Audio/Video API you can already do these things. I don't see anyone complaining that things like Youtube and Grooveshark are malicious, so why should iOS be sabotaged? Non-Apple devices like Android, and Playbook work just fine. You can build music, and video, and game web applications on those devices without these limitations, and it is not a problem. Apple simply wants a hobbled platform, to force all content through the iTunes store instead of over the internet.
It's not malicious to build a game or a music app. What I'm saying is that before you hand out tools to do that, you have to at least think about what else those tools can do. Microsoft has been repeatedly burned by this, cf Raymond Chen http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2005/06/07/42629... , and it's a very, very basic principle of platform/API design.
I argue that Apple's focus on the user experience, especially in the areas of responsiveness, battery life, and consistency with the general Apple design aesthetic, cause Apple to make choices here that you disagree with, but which aren't necessarily bad decisions.
"You can build music, and video, and game web applications on those devices without these limitations, and it is not a problem."
Actually it is a problem: Android malware exists, and I say that it proves my point: if you hand out capabilities without thinking through the consequences, it will come back and bite you.
The uses that you intend for tools are never the only possible uses of those tools.
