Jakob Nielsen: screen space use in mobile apps

That was rather shallow. Apple might have had their reason, and it would be worthwhile to explore what those could be. My expert opinion is that (some) users freak out when "earth moves under them" i.e. when entire screen is redrawn. Redraw of the screen, even when animated with slide effects, adds to the user's mental overhead, whereas Apple-style pop-overs are less disruptive.