My understanding is that Google licenses their imagery from many different providers, and that THEIR licensing limits their ability to place the color images out via the GE API. I think the better analogy would be that you're essentially asking Bugatti to reach (and pay for) licensing deals with every artist that you might possibly want to play on the included sound system.
Directly regarding imagery, I believe the cost of having those licenses in place would be prohibitive and many users would argue that they don't need/want to play with high-res aerial imagery, so therefore they shouldn't pay for it. We leave the option to you to acquire and/or pay for the imagery you need when you need it.