There is an eminently sane reason, at least from the perspective of Apple's wanting to keep the switching costs of it's customers high. It may also be an aesthe

There is an eminently sane reason, at least from the perspective of Apple's wanting to keep the switching costs of it's customers high. It may also be an aesthetic and design choice, but the primary function of the specialised dock connector is to prevent competitors from producing drop-in replacements for Apple devices and to raise the switching costs for committed apple customers. If you already have a dock connector in your clock/radio and in the dashboard of your car, you aren't going to switch to a usb based device for music or phone or casual browsing.