Once upon a time Wifi sounded dumb. It isn't that difficult to cable ethernet, and the performance is better with much less latency. The same goes for things like AirPlay audio and video.

Putting them everywhere, like the kitchen counter, home and office desks, car and bedside table would really lengthen the lives of phone batteries. If it really took only a second for people to do the equivalent of plugging in their phone they'd almost always leave them charging.