It kinda raises the question of "Where are we going with this?". Do the masses want a camera that also makes calls and receives text, or do they want a phone that can do many other things like take photos, surf the web, etc. Personally I'm in the multi-funtion phone camp (think PadFone) and your right, I don't much care about phone-ography.
In post after post you see people obsessed with a fancy camera. I could be wrong but I seriously doubt most folks will give a hoot about how great the camera is when they are trying to decide whether or not to get a WinPhone.
Well if it's any indicator, one of the biggest gripes with a Lumia 900 was the camera. For some, it was just not good enough and these forums were filled with post after post about how they're going to return the phone and get a Titan II , with a 16MP camera instead.
I think at this point in time, if you asked the masses "if you had to choose one, would you get a WP8 with quad core processor with a mediocre camera or a dual core with a Pureview camera"? I'm pretty sure you'll get more giving up the quad core for Pureview tech. Plus, according to the VP of Nokia, the camera isnt the only innovation up their sleeves. He hinted at "bendable" screens. I'm curious to see what that's about.