Yeah, for people who want the most stout lens they can find, and don't care that much about the aperture, I guess the 23 f2.8 could be popular.
I was just kind of surprised at the apparent desire for something even smaller than the existing 23 f2, which is already, by pretty much any objective standard, a tiny lens. Maybe people just want their lenses to be the size of lens caps now, or they are hoping to re-create the form factor of an X100 without actually owning one.