I think they've always meant it to be that way. Notice the product intro video at the September event only showed off drawing. I think Apple considers this more of a drawing tool than for note taking though I think it works well for that too.They are obviously trying to tone down the marketing push behind the pencil and reframe it as a specialty tool. Or maybe they have always meant for it to be perceive as such, who knows. I suspect it has something to do with the whole "who needs a stylus" Steve Job philosophy. I still believe he was right about it and I'm sure Apple does, too. Stylus has a specific purpose. I haven't seen it yet, but it looks like a well designed product and if it functions the way they claim (which I have no reason to doubt) then it's priced fairly.