According to eBay:

"In the next few weeks, eBay will begin offering our own counter free of charge that sellers can add to their listings. This new optional eBay counter will replace Andale’s counter and will track the number of times a listing is viewed. Counters can be made visible to everyone, or sellers can use our new "Hidden Counter" option, which displays only to the seller.

You will be able to add the eBay counter to your new listings through any selling tool. Once the eBay counters are available, any listing already running with an Andale counter will keep the Andale version – you will not need to change it until you relist the item."

Often eBay experiments with changes on the sites of other countries before implementing them into eBay USA, which is its big money maker.

Is there any point in using counters?

Certainly. To maximize our eBay earnings we need to improve what we're doing and how can we do that if we don't have any information on which to base our listings? Counters are a valuable feedback tool and should be kept hidden, IMHO. It's nobody else's business how many people look at your auctions. In fact, such information can give valuable clues to your competitors.