I was looking at the NSURLConnection class which could be used to establish a sync or async connection to an URL and then retrieve its data... a lot of changes
NO! They are NOT limited to use for authentication and failure issues if you look carefully through the Apple's library.
Since introducing +(void)sendAsynchronousRequest:queue:completionHandler: to NSConnection class object, Many things which can perform as many NSConnectionDelegate method as before can now be used in formal protocols called "NSConnectionDataDelegate" & NSConnectionDownloadDelegate, opening a new room to add more feature to NSURLConnection methods. (from iOS5 on)
So I think it is an improvement, not limiting their use.