i don't think you answered the question. I have the same question.
1. why can't you install VC and VMimporter on the same physical host? What are the technical limitations that prohibit this, and will this be resolved in the future?
2. It would be nice to utilize the management server (VC) to also manage the import / export of virtual machines via Vmware Importer
If you have a fast enough system for VC and would like to also utilize it for importing you should be able too. Putting the importer app into a virtual may not be in everyone's best interest. The best analogy I can come up with is with managing a blade server environment. They recommend that your management pieces and tools be out of band and not run on a blade itself. This allows you to manage the blade environment even if there is a problem within the physical blade environment itself. Because the tools are out of band you never have to worry about the tools being unavailable in the event of a blade hardware failure.
Forearms