From my point of view, blogging software is not about publishing (sorry apple) it's about communication. Doesn't matter if you are using comments, trackbacks or backlinks to ease that communication - but leaving that part out and just concentrate on a nice design won't make it. What Apple did right was to expand the idea of blogging to include photos, videos, music and downloads. It also has sections where you can provide some static information about you or what your site is about.

At the end of the day a blog is a space where you can be - whatever you want to be - represented by your thoughts, your findings your talk, but also with your fotos, your voice, your videos, your links. And you can have guests, some just watch over the fence, some ring the bell and say hello and with some you meet regulary and have a nice chat. All that communication will leave traces in your space (blog). And blogging software is about receiving, organizing and presenting these traces.