[Wayne07]

It is funny, but also reminds of the launch if the iMac back in 1998, when people flipped out because it didn't have a floppy drive. People came up with similar conspiracy theories that the excluded the floppy to force people to buy external drives.

from OS News in 1998

That still left the issue of the floppy. Apple's explanation is that the floppy is a dying breed. It's slow and doesn't hold a lot of information. If you have a spreadsheet that you have to work on at home, just email it to yourself. [...] Well, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. [...] So why would Apple intentionally leave out the floppy? [...] My guess is that by doing so, Apple creates a vacuum. And by doing so, have inherently created demand for third party storage products.

[Solson]

USB’s aren’t a dying breed. Floppy’s were.