I think they had originally had the blacksmith have this ability then realized he had to many abilities, and so they gave it to the jeweler. and then at that point they realized it was sort of useless, because all people would do is just socket everything. I guess what they wanted to give people was this choice where, do I take the less powerful item with a socket, or a slightly more powerful item without sockets.
The big decision I'm finding this in is my weapons and helms, just because they have a specific upgrade when you add a gem (i.e. not the usual stat upgrade).
I hope you're wrong... ):
I mean, I'd at least like to be able to add 1 socket to an item.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/artisan/jeweler/
On the right side under "Key Features"
The big decision I'm finding this in is my weapons and helms, just because they have a specific upgrade when you add a gem (i.e. not the usual stat upgrade).