I vividly remember exactly the same arguments about touchscreens before iPhone came. Everyone was agreeing that physical keyboards rock and touchscreens suck (me too). There were non-Apple smartphones with touchscreens, but no one was buying them because touchscreens suck. If Apple did a focus-group at that time, they'd never release an iPhone.

But Apple brand name was so strong, that they were able to push through and against public opinion and made touchscreens successful.

Now we have another iteration of the same discussion, but with car media touchscreen dashboards.