He said the same of the stylus during the iPhone launch, but it eventually came to life (just in a much more specific setting/use case)

The pencil is bad enough but how it charges itself is even worse. Lets turn my ipad into a brittle stingray. It's up there with the mouse having to charge upside down for apples top own goals.

He said if the device required a stylus, they failed. The pencil is useful for certain applications, but not required.