Yes, the world is a big and poor place. But in the United States where (like other developed nations of course) people have the financial means to choose, the majority of phones sold are smartphones. And T9 is generally looked at like rotary dial.
By your own stats it was 40% over a year ago, and you don't think they've creeped past 50% yet?
Nonsense. For stats, look at that Pew poll linked in the CNN article alongside this comment. For anecdotal evidence, look at the free/sub-$50 phones offered by all major carriers with a new contract. They are almost all smartphones. It's cheaper up front to get a smartphone now than the alternative.
Plenty of feature phones have qwerty keyboards, including the one I used up until a few months ago. They're not all T9. Anecdotally, many of my friends have feature phones with qwerty keyboards...
