Is it stupid that Olympus charges more for the black 12mm than they do for the silver 12mm? Absolutely. However it was indeed a success, since the initial allotment of them sold out. Recently, they made another small batch and it too sold out rather quickly.
I believe this was a test by Olympus to see if there was a market for black and silver versions of their lenses. Obviously there is, which is why Olympus offers every lens in either silver or black, with the exception of the 60 f/2.8, which only comes in black.
The 12mm is a wonderful lens, and I'm very happy to have one in black. It would have looked quite odd to have 2 black primes and 1 silver one, especially on my all black Panasonic G6.
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