I used to think the same thing, but really most SMD soldering isn't that difficult with some practice and a nice fine point soldering iron. Check out Dave Jone's videos at the EEVBlog, he has some great ones on SMD soldering like http://www.eevblog.com/2011/07/18/eevblog-186-soldering-tuto...
Also just because an Arduino board is built with SMD or very small components doesn't mean a user has to do the same thing. This board has the same headers for input/output as any other Arduino so you can attach existing shields, put on a protoboard, or just plug wires in directly. I don't see how the Yun does anything to shun newbies.
You may have a good point. But I don't think it's feasible to buy a Atmega2560 and then build a custom pcb. Majority would rather buy an Arduino Mega for their project and be done with it rather than building a custom board.
My previous comment tries to convey that you need to leave the Arduino in the project instead of just using it as a prototyping platform once you go SMD. Well sure, that'd increase sales for arduino boards.
Also just because an Arduino board is built with SMD or very small components doesn't mean a user has to do the same thing. This board has the same headers for input/output as any other Arduino so you can attach existing shields, put on a protoboard, or just plug wires in directly. I don't see how the Yun does anything to shun newbies.