Well, sure. I have a small tripod, but it can't be used with an iPhone. I know, there are attachments, but then you go down that slippery slope where there are always enhancements you can buy. What about lighting, for example? You don't want to see a glare spot on your cover, so you could get a small home photo studio like this one:
But at that point, you have a quasi-permanent set-up somewhere in your house, which is a lot of effort just to import a cover shot into iTunes. I'm trying to devise an on-the-fly solution. You're right that the cover I posted isn't perfect, but with practice maybe I can get closer.