Here is why a prime lens camera like X100 yielded success!

They were bound to be failures...after all, Nikon and Canon make 400 zooms and 100 primes for a reason...how could a fixed mm lens compete?

I figured it out.

Suppose you are traveling and in a tour.  If the tour operator announced "we will not go near the church due to traffic, but if you have a 1200mm zoom you will be able to see the pictures perfectly later on on your computer" ... you'd be angry and ask that the tour bus go "so that you can see the church at 'normal viewing distance"

If they put you 1 foot away from the wall of the church you'd try to back off a few feet so that you could "see it at normal viewing distance"

So unless you want to take pics of zoo animals, the instinct is to duplicate 35mm or so.

And that is how a humble fixed prime lens camera competes with the hundreds of zooms and primes!