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Publishers could opt out of Text to Speech, but for all the muss about it, not that many chose to. It wasn't TTS that was a bust, it was audiobooks on e-ink Kindles that was a bust. Not enough people wanted to use their Kindles for audiobooks to justify the expense. The elimination of TTS was a side effect of the elimination of audio hardware. You can still get TTS on the Kindle Fire, except for the first generation.
It doesn't make any sense to eliminate the USB port. Not many people have wireless chargers. Most people charge their Kindle with the USB port. Or if they do have wireless chargers, they don't always have their wireless chargers with them, and the option to charge via USB is very useful. I can charge my Kindle, my phone and my GPS in my car with one micro USB connector.
Having a USB port allows you to get a book on your Kindle when you don't have WiFi access. I can download the book on a computer and copy it to the Kindle without having to e-mail it to my Kindle. The USB port also allows you to copy non-Amazon content without having to e-mail it to myself. Eliminating the USB port would inconvenience many people, provide a benefit to no one, and would be unlikely to lower costs.
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