I actually think iOS is a terrible example, and that Apple apps are undoing years of good design lately. One of my favorite features about my Android phone (despite that fact that all the apps are still laid out however the designers feel) is that there is some consistent UI and I can navigate more quickly by using the menu, back and find buttons which provide a consistent way to find the settings in any random app, or to find the search feature.
I too don't really understand that backwards patterns were creating with the web, i.e. when a few years ago modal dialogs got much more popular (i.e. jquery-ui, etc). I remember not too long ago in the mid 90s when every magazine was awash with complaints about apps that had too many modal dialogs, saying they were bad for user experience, which was generally true.
Those things are pretty consistent in iOS too, if you follow the pretty well laid out conventions. Settings are in the settings app, search is at the top of a list etc.
I guess the difference is with hardware buttons the app has little ability to effectively change the behaviour, whereas with software conventions they can pick and choose what they follow.
I too don't really understand that backwards patterns were creating with the web, i.e. when a few years ago modal dialogs got much more popular (i.e. jquery-ui, etc). I remember not too long ago in the mid 90s when every magazine was awash with complaints about apps that had too many modal dialogs, saying they were bad for user experience, which was generally true.