Woman friendly? What has gender to do with keyboard size?
And yes, price is definitely a reason. Do you really think many people are waiting for a 500+ €/$ (VA) synth?
That they're EDM / D.J. (techno, really? Are you posting this from the 90s?) is only partly the reason. If that was only the case, then they'd go for a desktop module only, or just a plugin.
The Studiologic Sledge has a nice hands-on interface, but a rather limited VA engine. My recommendation, if you like programming your own sounds, and can live with less knobs, is a second hand Korg Z1, Korg MS2000 (nice interface, but limited polyphony), or a Supernova II (still not that cheap, but way cheaper than when it was new).
One of the reasons the Virus TI2 kb is still so expensive, is because it's so much more than just a VA.