Not necessarily. There r many who'd never buy a phone with a HKB. They don't need a KB jutting out from their devices... making it unnecessarily bulky and prone to disfigurement. We r pretty happy with a VKB... it solves our purpose. Similarly there would many who'd desire otherwise. Their usage preferences might call for a phone with HKB. I'd opine that the masses would be divided, with a tad bending towards a non-HKB model. Which is why most phones aren't made that way. However, the wisest idea would have been to maintain both... and let the users decide. Thus, two variants of the same device - a N9 & a N950 going concurrently, with similar specs could be a better KSP. Sad, Eflop and [regretfully] the Nokia BoD thought otherwise...