Because it'll show that they aren't supportive of Web standards and they'll look like complete fools - bad PR for them. That's why they were sabotaging any attempts to make other open codecs (like VP8) an official standard for HTML5 video. It's much harder for them to explain why they oppose official Web standards, than just to say they aren't supporting one of the optional codecs.
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Why exactly couldn't Apple use the very same lame excuse it used against WebM and pro-h.264?
Because it'll show that they aren't supportive of Web standards and they'll look like complete fools - bad PR for them. That's why they were sabotaging any attempts to make other open codecs (like VP8) an official standard for HTML5 video. It's much harder for them to explain why they oppose official Web standards, than just to say they aren't supporting one of the optional codecs.