$799 when you can get into a Panasonic mirrorless for less than $400 will stop a lot of new buyers.
There are a few caveats to that though. Remember, we're talking average consumers, not photo enthusiasts.
I've seen hundreds of threads here in this forum, and similar in many others, where someone says they want to buy a camera, and should they get a Canon or Nikon? Simply put, many folks don't even know what brands of camera exist - they only know they've seen or heard of the names Canon or Nikon. So all the others (Panny, Oly, Sony, Pentax, Ricoh, Samsung, etc) are at a disadvantage already, and Canon and Nikon have a big advantage naturally, even if their products are inferior.
Also, Canon has massive presence in big box stores, average consumer stores, etc...whereas you can go to a lot of big box stores and not even see an Olympus, Panasonic, or Sony model on the shelf. Again, advantage to Canon regardless of how good or bad the product is.
Then you've got the rare consumer who actually does know another brand of camera, and asks whether to buy the Panny/Oly/Sony/Pentax/etc or the Canon, and the usual comment that inevitably is offered up by someone, "All the pros use Canon, just look at all the white lenses at the sports game". Again, the product doesn't matter - the name has built in cache, and honestly they could stick the name Canon on the front of a Barbie kids cam and outsell most other brands.
You can't underestimate Canon's success with this camera, regardless of how inferior it may be to much of the mirrorless competition. They are a big name, with instant recognition, and assumed respect. They've sold plenty of very average entry-level DSLRs that often are outspecced and undercut price-wise by competing DSLRs, but the Canon name on the front sold the product. I expect the mirrorless market may be the same, and having it look (and even function to a degree) much like an Ixus may end up paying dividends in bringing over lots of P&S consumers looking for better performance and not knowing such alternatives have existed already for 4-5 years from other brands. Sure, they're not winning over many of their DSLR loyalists, but very likely they don't really want to...DSLRs remain profitable for them, and if the first salvo of this EOS-M is successful with the P&S converters, they can release a second more advanced mirrorless body that has better functionality and features to play to their DSLR crowd as a second body option - those totally devoted to the Canon brand who never considered any other mirrorless camera as an option.
but here's what dpreview has to say about what they call the "rear screen" (which to me is the EVF - someone correct me if I'm wrong, lol): 
I think you may be correct there!
