[thxbb12]

My gf is using the 16-50 as a 16/3.5 and guess what? It's perfectly fine. It's featherweight, cost 15$ when bought with the body and image quality is fine. The alternative is the much more expensive 16/1.4 which is also a much larger lens. 

 

Power zoom is probably there to keep the lens even more compact, they are probably using it to collapse the lens when it's powered off. 

 

This is an even smaller kit lens with a slightly larger field of view and I'd be happy to get one with the body. It's a great starter lens and works just fine as a cheap wide angle.

 

I agree it would be a small wide-angle lens.

Ironically, the reason Fuji made it 15mm at the wide-end is not so much to attract landscape shooters, but to attract the selfie crowd: with this lens you can capture more people while doing a selfie given it's a wider lens. This selfie trend is truly pathetic.

At least it benefits landscape shooters in this case.

 

I don't understand the logic that if it's a power zoom it can be made smaller. If anything it should be the opposite: one has to add a motor for the zoom itself on top of the existing one for AF.

Olympus features several manually collapsible lenses which are very small (UWA 9-18 and kit lenses). No need for powerzoom.