Reply #49: My guess

[FreeJoe]

My guess is that Apple makes most of its profit on iPads from purchases made on the device (songs, apps, etc). People without credit cards or debit cards don't have an easy way to make purchases on the device. That makes them unprofitable customers. Apple would rather sell the iPad to someone that makes them more money. Rather than admit that they don't want people that won't be shopping on the iPad buying them, they make up a cover story.

It's no different than their fear of Flash allowing people to run flash apps without going through their online store. Instead of just coming out and saying that Flash would be problematic for their business model, they told people that they weren't allowing people the choice of running Flash on iPads because they were better off not having the choice.

Apple makes awesome products, but they're so controlling that it gives me the creeps.