Yep. And then: what is the backwards compatibility story for 30-pin if Apple were to move to native Micro-USB? There is none.
Micro-USB can't ever reassign pins or masquerade as something else, otherwise it's not USB. An active 30-pin adapter would be able to signal that it can handle 30-pin signals and thus perhaps something could be arranged in reverse, but then all the old Apple-specific capabilities will still always require an active dongle like they do now.
Then there's all the added joy of making sure you NEVER EVER get this auto-detection wrong and send juice down the wrong pin.
Micro-USB can't ever reassign pins or masquerade as something else, otherwise it's not USB. An active 30-pin adapter would be able to signal that it can handle 30-pin signals and thus perhaps something could be arranged in reverse, but then all the old Apple-specific capabilities will still always require an active dongle like they do now.
Then there's all the added joy of making sure you NEVER EVER get this auto-detection wrong and send juice down the wrong pin.