1. They have limited interactivity, hence cool features are hard or impossible. 2. Many, many people just don't care about them or the limited screen real estat

1. They have limited interactivity, hence cool features are hard or impossible. 2. Many, many people just don't care about them or the limited screen real estate they provide and prefer to use a full screen app. I don't think you can fix 2. by fixing 1. - that is a common topic of discussion that I believe to be pointless, seeing as I very seldom (if ever) used them in Android as well. I have about half of my iPad's home screen taken up with weather and calendar widgets, and that is about the most extensive use I make of them. On the iPhone I only use a few on the lock screen (for similar purposes).