It's not quite the same. As far as I can tell, Android apps can (and often do) run as background processes. This is true even if they have never been used. Not only does that consume resources, but there are definite privacy implications. (I love Android's permissions system, but it is only useful if people carefully select the apps that they install.)

These apps also make the drawer a bit of a mess, thus making it harder to find the stuff I want.