Don't know if this has been pointed out, but everytime I handed over my DSLR to the "P&S crowd" they tried spontaneously to use the screen to frame, using the viewfinder felt unatural to them (more than not being able to zoom)
I believe the K-01 is targetted to those people, upgrading from a P&S, they wouldn't feel lost, yet, the camera is as big and looks like a DSLR so they get "for their money".
And finally, many opinion makers in the photograohic blogosphere (Krik Turk, LLoyd Chambers) are predicting the end of the optical viewfinder and its replacement by the EVF. I wouldn't be surprised that Pentax is planning an "Enthousiat" model with an EVF and K-mount in 2 generation time (1 generation after the K5 replacement) or in parallel with the K5 replacement.
- Short registration mount has no advantage for tele objectives,
- The thickness of the sensor + electronics + screen will get smaller and smaller (think that we will eventually get MX thickness),
- The distance between the lense and the sensor has to be kept relatively big to avoid issues like excessive vignetting
- A very short registration distance requires much tighter tolerances on the mount to keep everything aligned.
So all in all, I think Pentax has the good approach, making lenses recessing in the barrel is a good solution for wides, and Pentax still has the Q for those who are crazy about compactness.