Yeah I don't think this phone will be a flop, its just not for a lot of the readers here. Google wants to take on the iPhone now, not have a cheap developer phone. If they released a $400 phone it will just be another cheap android device. Instead we have a really well built phone, a good support ecosystem (at least in the US were the iPhone is best), solid camera from what I've seen this far, a nice amount of extra feature, a decent enough design for most (some will complain about the chin but again doesn't hurt the iPhone). On top of the its the best software experience, and from what I've seen its stupidly fast.
Even if the same exact phone costed less it would seem cheaper too be people, "I could get an iPhone or this cheaper android phone". Review will tell but if they tick of a lot of the boxes that most phones hit and market it well enough I think it will completely eclipse anything a Nexus phone has done. For that to happen they had to hurt their core user base which sucks but its just business.
I'm mostly annoyed that so many thing are locked down to the US only, but again it makes sense as its the biggest iPhone market. What really would **** me off is if the price drops, if its going to cost me a lot now it better remain a lot forever as to keep the value of the phone if it does ever sell well.