I have to admit, the information about satelites was what my previous boss said to me!
I suspect that even though (as your images pointed out very well!) satelite imagery is no doubt very good, it still isn't to the level of quality companies like google earth are looking for.
If the satelite image is 1pxl = 0.5M then the cameras we were using at 1pxl = 1inch is obviously going to be superior. I'm sure there are satelites out there with that capability, probably military grade, and I have no doubt that they will be available to civilian use in the not so distant future.
Also you have two types of satelite, Geocentric and Geostationary, my assumption was you would use Geostationary to do high level photographic mapping, surely any Geocentric camera which can go round the earth in two weeks wont have the ability to produce quality detailed low level imagery?