"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.