I believe most people would like a cheap and small board to use it like they would use a regular computer: high-level development, media player, various "apps",

I believe most people would like a cheap and small board to use it like they would use a regular computer: high-level development, media player, various "apps", small home server. Clearly, for these people, performance/price is the first and foremost criterion. If it works like it's supposed to, it's a done deal. As for lower level development, you are probably right, few boards can claim to beat the Pi.