I race in the single speed class at the local xc series. But it is also a blast to ride around with friends and on the trails. I have the same exact frame in the geared version, so when i was looking to get a single speed, i wanted the frame/geo to be exactly the same, it seemed like the obvious choice. But like you said its not for everyone, i think specialized only produced something like 15 of each frame size in the this bike, there are not many around, and its marketed to a very specific crowd like you said.
It was pretty hard to get my hands on one, i ordered in October, and i missed out on getting the first shipment of them, luckily i got one from the second shipment.