It may be as you say, but I for example use the launchpad for a question of faster visual access to applications and I have never related it to a touch function.
Its convenience is that it provides you with a visual and location reference, which a list cannot give you.
Often the applications have names that are not remembered precisely and instead it is easy to remember the position, once acquired, in a list, even if in alphabetical order you can struggle, if you do not remember the name (it often happens that programs start with the name of the manufacturer, for example).
Then if you create folders eg genre in the lauchpad, the system becomes even more immediate, because you partialize them by theme (eg: video, audio, photography, office etc ..).
I think that more for a touch concept it came to the PC from the world of telephony, precisely because it is superior in approach, regardless. The touch is a further step, but the terms of the reasoning I have done above there is not much difference, in terms of immediacy, to get to the icon, once identified, between mouse and finger.
We'll see if they add this news as well ...