RR_NDB,
While your focus on the pitots as the initiating cause of the AF447 disaster is understandable, it is really irrelevant in the wider picture. Improving the pitots is necessary in the general drive for safer flying, but not as a specific outcome of this accident.
Sensors can fail for a million reasons. CB's trip, autopilots drop out, likewise. The aircraft should be flyable in this case with the proper backup systems/crew procedures. Surprise surprise, it is!
Ice was the issue in this case, but may not be in another. Your brand of hindsight may have saved AF447, but will not save the next one. The issue here is not the pitot icing, but the subsequent mismanagement of the problem, whether by the crew or the remaining aircraft systems (the stall-warning cutout comes to mind).