Um...stupid question...how do we know in this case that it is Apple?
I'm not saying it isn't, but to not consider that perhaps AT&T might be involved in the equation (as cell providers just LOVE to have people buy ringtones from them and I'm sure would have a lot of issue with being cut out of that potential revenue stream) is something akin to looking at the elephant in the room while ignoring the giraffe.
Stupid observation....some of us actually use distinctive ringtones as a means of caller id. I like not having to take my phone out of the pocket every single time it rings, and I like not having to have a bulky LCD bluetooth headset to get caller id from it. I like the fact that just hearing the Austin Powers theme, or I'm Only Happy When It Rains, or Riders on the Storm, or Good Times, Bad Times lets me know exactly who is calling without having to take my phone out of my pocket. I guess I'm enough of a prick that I don't care what people think about it. And when you've got a decent amount of contacts in your book, you just run out of the stock supplied ringtones and need something more. But that's just me I guess.
Oh...and as for why there's no big news about this yet.....it's still pretty much in "alpha stage". It can be done, but you need custom software, possibly custom hardware, and need to be really comfortable messing around the the heart of the OS. Oh, and it'd be relatively easy to brick your phone trying it if you don't know what you're doing...so right now while it 'can be done', we're still a bit of a ways off from simply donwloading a tool, hitting three clicks, and having custom ringtones. THEN you'll see a lot of hullabaloo....still, pretty amazing they've done so much in so little time.