Having outputs is good too. I don't know a single smartphone owner I've talked to about it, who wouldn't love for it to have a general IR out for remote control applications.
Here's the thing though: It's not THAT big of a deal to grab my remote instead of my phone. I'd rather keep the cost of the phone down by not having an IR sensor/transmitter that only works for one function since my TV already comes with a remote that works perfectly well.