Linux is a good thing, but Linux as a thing in itself delivers a lot of geek cred and is a good platform for other software, but it is not a feature that gives phone users any value. Will the average buyer know or care?
Is it more stable? Cheaper? Android phones are stable and cheap already. Does it run new kinds of apps or run existing apps faster? Make coffee and wash dishes? What does it do for me that my current phone does not?
I absolutely agree with you. Still you have asked personal question "So why should __we__ get excited" and I made assumption that __we__ as hackers. If __we__ as people - IMHO nothing interesting about this phone from average user perspective. N950 and N9 were interesting phones for me as geek (because of QtQuick) but QtQuick performance gain is not that important/significant if compared to HTML(5).
The only reason why I love different brands than Android is to play with something interesting and different. That's why Firefox OS looks particularly interesting for me currently with my simple needs and low dependence on Google.
