The documentation for __import__ says that it primarily exists "so that
you can replace it with another function that has a compatible
interface, in order to change the semantics of the import statement".
http://docs.python.org/library/functions.html

That is no longer the case. The recommended way to do that is with the
new import hooks, and the docs should reflect that.

A common use for __import__ is for when you don't know the module name
until runtime. That too should be mentioned.