I mean, even a touch screen toaster that costs $1,500 got invested in. Who is going to pay $1500 for a touch screen toaster? http://www.juneoven.com
It takes a 2.5 GHz quad core CPU to produce an awesomely accurate imitation of an analogue iron bell "Ting!", what did you think?
(At least, that's the reason my mum gave for not using the feature on her fancy microwave. She used to be a professional cook.)
Besides the price, the low thermal mass is a selling point -- throw a couple chocolate chip cookies in there and you don't heat up the entire house in the middle of summer just for a fresh baked treat.
Britain doesn't really have snack food like America. I've never thought to warm up a cookie, and without air conditioning I doubt I'd want a warm snack in the summer. Ice cream!
Though thinking about it, the most common thing to serve during the day as a snack is cake. There's a decent variety here (remove "vegan" and anything that says "salted"): http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/category/dishtype/cakes-t...
(Or, perhaps with smaller houses on average people don't want to use up the space for one, and wealthier people with space don't want to heat up processed foods.)
Most British people own a toaster. Do Americans? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toaster
Not everything in IoT is bad...