Jens Schönfeld could have put a €1 socket there so anyone could just plug in their spare 881 or 882, but by instead leaving people with no upgrade path other than soldering directly on the board, more cards will have their warranty voided, or possibly break beyond repair further down the road. The sooner you can make a product obsolete, void its warranty, or reduce its after-market value to nothing, the sooner there's the possibility to make a new sale.
Jens is an evil genius....
I bet secret his lab where he developed all this stuff is situated under a volcano.
