I think its a little more straight forward than all that.
Switch Hardware.
1. Battery - Already knew battery was a tight fit. By pushing off this app/features, one less battery consumer.
2. CPU Cores - Working to keep Cost of Materials, power usage, heat, etc as low as possible but wanted to maximize as much horse power for games as possible in portable mode. By pushing off this app/features, console can remain 100% utilized to the game and not process chat, online features, etc.
Then you consider that nearly 100% of folks who bought a Switch own a smartphone, Nintendo likely figured they could build a much better communication / app system on a phone that could also run seamlessly while game is also running.
Of course, it looks like a complicated p.o.s. that created more problems than it was trying to solve and will surely drive people to simply not use it. #Nintendoing
My only hope is that there is a non-app version of online play where I can just play online. Without using my phone or crazy wired headsets. I can forgo chat or just call someone directly and use a bluetooth headset.
EDIT:
I may be being too synical here. With portable system that would require your phone to get online while on-the-go a phone app also has potential benefits. But, at this time the app has several issues and the forced corded headset concept is just something that should not have been offered as the only option.
