Kashmani- have you ever had issues with your internal hub breaking? Also, people seem to think changing a flat tire on an internal hub wheel is much more difficult: have you found this to be the case?
I have not had one break yet, but I agree that it is a possibility. My bike is currently nine years old, but I only used it as a daily commuter for three of those years. The remaining time it was pretty much just a recreational weekend bike.
The parts that fail apparently are always the same. There are some good Youtube videos, albeit all in German. The Germans and the Dutch are the biggest adopters of internal hubs, and my bike is a Dutch model (Batavus).
With respect to tire changes, you are correct. It is harder. The last time I had a rear flat, I brought my bike into a store, as it was not worth the hassle. But in fairness, in nine years of use I only had one flat. With proper commuter tires, flats are really a non-issue.
In essence, with an internal hub you are trading reduced daily or weekly maintenance (such as cleaning grime out of the chain) for more difficult fixes if something breaks. For me, that was a worthy trade-off. If a hub breaks after five years of daily service, but is otherwise maintenance-free, I can live with that.
The bigger challenge is that a lot of bike stores do not know how to work on an internal hub. It took me four attempts in my city to find some competent folks. One co-op run by a bunch of 20-something hipsters even broke the chaincase as they could not figure out how to remove it. They used a piece of clear fibreglass tape to hold it back in place - which I discovered two weeks later when I rode over a manhole cover and the entire bottom part of my chaincase fell off. That was my last visit there.
Frankly, I am of the German mindset (I am German but live in Canada): The only reason derailleurs exist is because they are cheaper and look sportier. And you can sell Americans anything based on image. Cases in point: SUVs. Mountain bikes (hint - unless you are riding dirt trails, they are not useful). Dishwashers with the stainless steel on the outside rather than the inside. McMansions. And yes, derailleurs.