I think this is a bit different though. It's aimed at a very low end of the market, people who are cost conscious tie up nicely with WhatsApp demographic from what I've seen.
It also isn't just about that button, its a minor iterative design on an existing phone which by all accounts sold well, though judging by Nokia's last quarter, it probably has little gross margin.
The thing I find interesting is that in the UK the 'media' doesn't talk about WhatsApp, they fawn over twitter endlessly, facebook and iWhatever too. But I've never seen anything on the BBC news about it, despite the fact most people I know now use it more than SMS/Email.
Myself I just wish WhatsApp had a decent desktop component.