Public perspective is that XIV got a lot of critique for not having an AH. Small ripples aren't going to make their way to mainstream media. Even if the market system is slowly changed to be AH-like that won't be noticed by the press.

I know it might seem trivial but making an AH and calling it an AH would allow the possibility of news like "XIV now has an AH" make waves across the internet and maybe win over some of the players who've left or are waiting for this announcement.

SE NEEDS more players for this game so the fact that some are willing to put up with the lack of a real AH isn't much of a consolation.

This is also probably the reason why they pushed back the release of companies for several months.