That's a good point though the port is also needed to pair an iPhone or iPad to a Mac/PC (the famous 'Trust This Device' screen can only be triggered if a device tries to access the phones data via USB) which is required to do any backups / music or picture syncs in the first place. ,nd it's also necessary if youre a developer as - even at USB2.0 speeds that people complain about here - it is still faster to test and debug applications than via wireless.