Lapsing doesn't necessarily mean that that paid won't ever be renewed though - I have a number of accounts which will go through periods of activity and inactivity, and I'll let them lapse when I know I won't be using them much for a while. But that doesn't mean that I won't decide to renew those accounts in the future, or that I won't want to sparingly use those accounts during the unpaid, 'inactive' periods. Someone else might just not have the money at that point in time, but will renew later on when they do.

Plus, when accounts that used to be paid are harder to manage than accounts that have never been paid at all, that just acts as a disincentive for some people to get paids in the first place. The fact that you can't choose the icons that remain does tie into this as well, but I have known people who'd like to get a paid for just a short time, but they end up not getting it at all because they know that icons would be a hassle afterwards.