It's part and parcel of the notion that these are supposed to be "convenient, mobile" devices. Wireless connection is, in general, much more convenient for a mobile device than any kind of wired connection can be.
Not that I think all the current restrictions of iOS are desirable (or even truly intended! Many are simply side effects of another goal, anunintended consequence of other priorities, etc ...). But considering a device made for mobility and convenience in the same way as a device designed for speed and wired connectivity exposes/exaggerates certain issues due to the very nature of the device's intent.
The camera manufacturers participate in this "wireless is better" idiom for mobile and field use as well. Why did it take so long for the X1D system to have a wired remote release, for instance? The X1D app had remote release the first day the camera shipped. The assumption is that for field work, a wireless control is more convenient and useful, where in fact it often isn't.
(Leica has the same issue going on with their excellent CL ... there isn't even a port that can be suborned into the role of doing a wired release like there is with the X1D, I've kluged up a solution for a remote release that works because, essentially, it's just a heck of a lot simpler and more convenient to have a cable release when I'm doing copy work than to have to sync and drive the camera with a WiFi tethered release... never mind that I get three times the battery life with a cable release as well!)
As Albert Einstein once said:
G
Perfection of means and confusion of ends seems to characterize our age.
- Albert Einstein