couldn't agree more. this article is nothing more than an ignorant rant. i wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt, even though it's from macworld but oh well...
just take a look at the two app comparisons. you have to be an idiot to write stuff like that and actually believe it.
on material: google has, from the start, said it's a design style and philosophy that it has chose to adapt on android (and on the web too), so it's only natural they try to do it on ios.