Completely agree. Microsoft used to do this thing all the time - it would hear about a competitor offering a new feature then announce it was going to be shipped as part of the next version of Windows, killing any interest in the competitor. Then (inevitably) there were months/years of delays while they actually built the thing.
The worst example was when OS/2 looked likely to gain a foothold in the PC market and Microsoft claimed that the next windows would have essentially all the OS/2 features (then delayed the next release for an eternity and shipped without many of the core features). The goal was just to shut down a competitor, not to actually announce a new feature.
Oh, hey, listen, I'm not throwing stones. I've done similar things myself when I had a press release opportunity timed with a trade show or a feature piece or something - but the product wasn't yet ready to ship.
So you announce, say it's in early beta, or early access, or in "sneak preview" mode and go from there.
The worst example was when OS/2 looked likely to gain a foothold in the PC market and Microsoft claimed that the next windows would have essentially all the OS/2 features (then delayed the next release for an eternity and shipped without many of the core features). The goal was just to shut down a competitor, not to actually announce a new feature.