Yours are all excellent points, especially in contexts that are close to or approaching continuous integration.

However, many shops still release annually, quarterly, and bi-monthly. Also many shops don't have smooth sprints, their development processes being somewhere between Agile and Waterfall. I've worked in two such shops.

I'm not naysaying you, just adding that I think your insights apply to a different model of development than the one I'm thinking about in my previous comment.