I think that micro USB wouldnt suit so well in a 'docked' situation either. Where the connector needs to take the weight of the phone.

The lightening connector looks (I haven't seen it yet) like it could support the phone. So when it is sitting in a cradle you don't need to worry about bumping the unit and the connector breaking off inside the phone.

i little shorter and is a tweet. could you elaborate more on why apple chose lightning ?